Bath Canoe Club have become regular visitors to Pembrokeshire and Sea Kayak Guides. Their first trip of 2011 was planned as a wildlife orientated weekend staying at the recently converted self catering accomodation on Skomer Island. This was also the first of our courses in collaberation with sea kayaking Marine Biologist Dr Lou Luddington.

As the course approached swell and weather forecasts didn't look promising but as usual the Pembrokeshire micro climate provided perfect conditions for a lovely paddle from St Brides to the island. The light wind, sunshine and solid swell made for a fun trip with plenty of rockhopping , exploring and a lunchtime surf at a fantastic inaccessible surf break. Our arrival at the island was greeted by thousands of Puffins and Dozens of inquisitive seals some of whom escorted us to the slipway at North Haven. After loading our overnight gear into the waiting tractor the group split, some taking a guided walk around the island with Tom and Lou while others paddled along the North coast  with Martin, settling for a circumnavigation of the Garland Stone as it was too rough to go any further.

The rest of the evening was spent exploring the island on foot, watching the spectacular wildlife and seas to the South West before settling into the accomodation for food and a few bottles of wine. A few members of the group managed to stay awake long enough for a midnight Manx Shearwater hunt.

We left early the next morning to catch slack water in Jack Sound and paddled back to St Brides, the swell was still sizable and made for some great rockhopping and another quick surf on the way home. Once at St Brides Lou took us on an exploration of the low tide rock pools introducing us to some of their amazing inhabitants.

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