Africa!
On April 30th 2016, we crossed the channel between Algeciras (Spain) and the Moroccan coast with the final destination being Ceuta. The group consisted of five members, and we only met in person at 06:30 am on the day of the crossing. We found each other on Whatsapp, all redirected by common friends.When we shaked our still cold hands early in the morning and presented ourselves, some nervous jokes were made. Although the distance is rather short (we paddled only twelve nautical miles), the traffic in the channel is quite intense. Most of the passing vessels are not to argue with, not mentioning the currents, which generally come from the Atlantic running inwards, with an average of just above two knots on our trip.
Homework...
I brought my Peak UK Explorer One Piece Suit, although the weather was rather mild. That could be a bit warm, especially during the sunny moments, but if something happened or the wind picked up stronger than expected, it sure would be a lot safer to wear a dry suit. Generally, I always tend to wear a one piece suit if there won't be any possibility to change clothes during a trip. It surely adds to the safety.
About an hour after we started paddling out, I was contacted by the British Marine on the VHF: "You´re approaching English supported waters, please identify yourself and explain your intentions." We decided to ignore the message and just paddle on. To my surprise, we did not see any police that day. One of us appeared to have English nationality, although his perfect Spanish didn´t betray him... Since we had England in sight, some hilarious political coloured jokes were made about the English enclave in Gibraltar, it is always an interesting subject among the Spaniards. It was a relief that the suspicious shark fin in the distance later appeared to belong to a group of friendly dolphins who jumped out of the water with six of them simultaneously, only a few meters from our bows.
The harbor of Ceuta is beautiful, with its historic internal channels and castle style high walls. Nice place to practice some roll techniques together. To my disappointment, a common decision was made not to paddle back, but instead contract a small fisher boat. Somehow we succeeded to load all our five kayaks on top of it and put it all together with ropes. While the others changed clothes, I just was so comfortable in my suit that I did not see a point in taking it off. Safe, warm and easy. Even kept the VHF in the buoyancy, you never know!
Once back, we united in a bar and kept on telling cool stories for hours, and also planned some future trips together as a newborn group of friends.
Kayaking really connects one another!
Article & images: Jasper Boerma
