September 19th, Day 98. A delightful day. Too hot for me to be wearing a dry suit but oh well, I chose this. Woke up to the most dreamy dusty sunrise. Everything was pink and yellow and there was a bit of foggy steam coming off the beach in the way that you know it’s going to be a hot day and burn off fast. It was just so incredibly beautiful and quiet. Got all my things ready, and made my lunch. This feels good, it feels like I’m back in my rhythm and can establish my “normal” again. I’m so happy to be back out here and really loving it again. I had to do a fair amount of hauling down the beach as the tide went out but that’s okay. My short wellies got me through the thick wet sand.
Off and it was such a flat calm and bright morning. Paddled to Inishbofin and enjoyed lunch on the most gorgeous tropical beach. As I was paddling in, the sea was so clear and blue, it could have been Greece. You could see the white rippled sand underneath and the burnt orange of the kelp drifting in the gentle waves. After lunch I was going to paddle on around the point but suddenly got so tired. Not like body tired but like I’m going to fall asleep, I need a nap tired. I think it was my lunch telling me it’s time for a nap. So I went to the next harbor to pee and shake up some coffee to keep me going. And what do I see while approaching? A van that looked quite like Donals and suddenly I see a drone wizzing towards me. I smiled at once, usually if a drone flies over me I’m thinking “what the hell” but knowing it’s Donal with my drone getting stellar footage, I was so excited. It’s so so nice to finally have some good video of me paddling from above. We chatted for a moment once I reached the pier and then we were both off again and I felt more ready to do the next stretch.
Around the head and all the way down to the beach across from Gola. Felt like it went on forever and I was a little nervous that the reef would be kicking, but because it was an hour off of high tide, it was bumpy but fine. Made it to the beach where I met Donal again so that I could get the rest of my food that had been in the fridge and he brought magnum ice cream. So well enjoyed. I packed the boat with food and water and was off across to Gola. He gave me a dry bag of sweets and when I got to the beach, I opened it and there was a nice letter, socks with bees saying Grand - like it’ll be grand, and jellies. So nice. I love letters and like he says - life is too short for shit socks.
