Day 13 Port Macquarie to Crescent Head
Waking up to the sound of my mermaid sister Jess’s voice was almost surreal, with both Nic and Jess on the Mermaid land crew today things were twice as fast and twice as efficient as usual!
The mermaid crew was on the road and ready for an 8am start at Town Beach, it was lovely to be greeted by Annie a school friend of my mum’s for the morning take off! Paddling out of Port Macquarie was surreal, there was a huge pod of dolphins that greeted me once in the water and after paddling about 1 km off the beach a massive rainbow arc appeared! Things were looking very much in my favour, the swell was from the south, the winds were south-westerly and the current was running 3km/hour north! This was by far the most ideal conditions i have set out in yet! Tony and I laughed at the fact that we had rainbows, dolphins and were awaiting a unicorn to set the day straight!
Progress has never been made faster, 3 hours into the paddle and i had arrived over 15km north at Point Plumber. This secluded little point break was such a stunning location I’ve never been there before and i can guarantee ill be back to test all my Macpac camping gear again! Tony and i pulled into the beach and waited for the land crew to arrive, the shivers only just started for the two of us when the crew was in sight so the tea on arrival was very much appreciated. While we had a short break off the water it was great to meet some of the surfers/campers and school holiday frothers. They told me they saw the Today Show tv interview with me; mid discussion i apologised and said i had to go and play with the dolphins. I said nothing to my crew and just sprinted past everyone grabbing my board on the beach and charging out into the line up to get amongst the playing dolphins! I paddled out and reached them in no time (no idea where this extra energy came from?!) I was surrounded by dolphins they were around my, underneath me and playfully checking me out! My smile and energy levels had probably not been higher throughout the day… until moments later! The sets started rolling in around the point, i spun around and paddled onto the first wave of a punchy 3 foot set. From this moment onwards my fire was back for 15 minutes i paddled in and out of the break catching wave after wave, this was truly the buzz i needed to lift me for the next 15km of paddling ahead of me! Tony was just watching smiling, shaking his head laughing at me, especially when i kept yelling out i’ll just catch one more wave, just one more! (I managed to record a fraction of this paddle and i was clocking 20km/hour and faster on the waves i was catching). My departure was as sneaky as my arrival, Tony was back out in the water with me and we were off north to Crescent! The swell and wind were still in my favour and assisting the paddle north which kept me in high spirits!
We arrived in Crescent Head late afternoon, 7 hours of paddling later the hot showers at the surf club were so welcomed! This evening we are lucky enough to have a home stay with a beautiful family (Scott, Karly and their two young boys, who have energy and enthusiasm beyond anything I’ve ever seen before).
Bed tonight will be amazing, I’m counting down the moments until its a semi acceptable time for me to call it a night!
