Day 10 Crowdy Head to Camden Haven
Sleeping in the Crowdy Head SLSC was seriously relaxing, plenty of room, views for days and even the luxury of a tv!
I knew weather conditions were not 100% in my favour for the day of paddling ahead, but thought i’d give it a go and just see how far I could manage all the same.
I was lucky enough to have the local Marine Rescue crew cooking up a breakfast under the surf club, apparently a flyer had gone around the local community informing people that if they wanted to have breakfast with a mermaid today was their day! The local support and positive vibes for my send off were seriously unbeatable. One man even drove all the way up from Sydney to see me off!
As i started to make my way into the middle of the bay area Fish my safety guy/guru of shenanigans spotted a hump back whale, as i continued to paddle the whale seemed to stop splashing and make a B line towards me. Initially i was excited however the closer it got the bigger it became. Usually the game starts with me trying to paddle towards the whales, not the other way around. I can officially say that i was scared out of my witts being chased by a whale! In all honesty I wasn’t being chased it was playfully circling me out of curiosity simply to look at me, but in the moment it was all too intense and i freaked out and paddled as fast as i could in the opposite direction from it!
Humpy 1 : Juliana 0
The longer i continued to remain on the ocean today the longer i paddled into head winds and cross swell, conditional all round were not ideal and my right shoulder knew it. I began paddling with just one arm to take the strain and load off the other. I gradually deteriorated mentally throughout the day as things just became all so difficult and monotonous. It wasn’t long before i almost lost the plot and had a melt down. My thoughts at the time were “my neck hurts, my chin is rubbing, my right shoulder is killing, I’m not moving, i’m stuck in a southern current, the winds are too strong to punch through, i want to get out of all these wet suits and bed sounds amazing right now”.
The Mermaid crew (Fish, Nic and myself) all arrived at Camden Haven SLSC in the afternoon where the club members were dropping in gear, food drops, bedding and good vibes! I was so exhausted i fell asleep mid afternoon and was woken up by the boys grabbing the end of my sleeping bag and tipping me out of it. Still being asleep this was a rude awakening followed by endless laughs!
To see the footage of my humpy experience check this link out!!!
That whale experience was awesome…..!!!