Jersey - Ecrehous and back - the long way!

Lots of bonsai paddlers!

 After having had another long and tiring previous day, I wasn't sure I was going to be fit today, but I'm always amazed at how good it is to get back in the boat and get the old joints moving again.
Our adventure today was to be a trip out to the Ecrehous, a lovely little group of islands about 6 miles from Jersey, a little further from France.

Getting closer

 Heading out past the long breakwater at St Catherines, we set off under the watchful eyes of John and Eric. It was quite sometime before we saw the first glimpses of the islands, but eventually they did come into view a bit clearer.

France off in the distance

The waters round the islands are beautifully clear, reminding me a little of the skerries round Arisaig except the beaches are pebbly.

We had a quick stop on the islands getting to have a wee keek into one of the houses whilst we were there.

Could be described as bijou!

 Big problem with the Ecrehous, no trees or bushes, and every rock you tried to hide behind seemed to be in full view of other visitors!!!

We were soon heading back out, cutting through the small outer islands then making for St Catherines again. One of the websites states the travel time from St Catherines to the Ecrehous is 15 minutes - not in our kayaks it wasn't, it took us almost 3.5 hours to return, thanks to the 5knot tide. We kept adjusting our angle, but we were still going to miss St Catherines. John said to aim for the castle at Orgueil, we'd paddle up the eddy from there. We seemed to have paddled for miles, seeing our destination and never quite reaching it, not much fun for me due to the aforementioned lack of hidey spots out on the islands! Hubby dear had paddled just ahead of me to help me out of the boat and I think must have announced my dilemma to everyone on the pier who seemed to jump out of my way as I sprinted (as best as I could!) up the hill to the loos.
We had a look at one of the paddlers GPS tracking thingies. A lovely straight line on the way across, but a HUGE curve on the way back. It really did show how strong the currents are there.
The good thing about this get out is the icecream shop at the top of the pier - massive dollops - fantastic!
We had to stop and have a look at the sandcastle built by Simon the sandwizard it was absolutely stunning!