North East Reefs

Watery Wanderings

There is always a pleasure from exploring those waters which are close to home, although those trips further afield also have an obvious attraction. Alastair Humphreys in his new book, “Ask an Adventurer” says “Yet, I am also becoming increasingly convinced that it is better to pursue a lifetime of living a little bit adventurously every day rather than dreaming of an adventure of a lifetime one day.”

Living in Jersey we are fortunate that we are able to experience our little adventures on a regular basis, almost daily at times, with some amazing places to visit, relatively close to home. We have just spent a superb few days wandering around the less frequently visited areas of Les Ecrehous. The main reef is often busy with numerous boats visiting from both Jersey and France but move less than 2 miles to the west for lunch and we couldn’t see another human being. The Petite Rousse is an area we have paddled past hundreds of times but only landed on once before.

La Petite Rousse, means the small reddish-brown rock, which describes it perfectly compared to La Grande Rousse, further to the west, the large reddish-brown rock. Looking at the development of the names of the rocks in the area is always fascinating. For example, another rock that we visited, La Bigorne, comes from the rock with two pointed heads. This comes from the Jèrriais for a pickaxe. There is an amazing website, Jersey Rock and Coastal Names Project, which is aiming to collect the traditional and modern names, for Jersey’s coastal features. If you love Jersey’s coastline you will love these maps.

Close to La Bigorne, the rock which is used as a transit for vessels approaching the reef from the south west. The main islands are just visible through the gap in the rocks.

John paddling down the eastern shore of Maitre Ile. the largest of the islands of the Ecrehous reef. We rarely land here and for most of the year it is not permitted because of the nesting seabirds. This area is part of the Les Écréhous & Les Dirouilles Ramsar site. The importance of the area to marine wildlife was clearly demonstrated a couple of minutes later when a Grey seal appeared to our right and Bottle Nose Dolphins to our left.

We had a break for morning coffee on Marmotière, the focus of most visits to the reef. The north coast of Jersey is just visible in the top left hand corner of the photo. From here we headed west towards the Petite Rousse for lunch.

Landing is not easy on the Petite Rousse. I have only landed here once before, that was a couple of months ago. Covid has forced us to explore the more remote corners of the Bailiwick of Jersey. We shared lunch with a Wheatear, a rather unusual species to find in such a location. Although it was a very small neap tide there was still a bit of tidal movement around the rock.

Approaching Marmotière on a rather overcast Tuesday morning. There were very few people around at that time of the day, we only stayed for about 10 minutes before heading back to Jersey.

This is a picture I took a few years ago from a private aircraft but clearly illustrates what a beautiful area it is.

For many years we have looked at traveling far and wide in search of sea kayaking adventure but the last 18 months have forced us to re-focus our energies. It has been fascinating to get the navigation charts out and search out places, which are accessible by sea kayak, but where we have never been. We have had new experiences, which are virtually under our eyes, and have come to view our local waters with a new perspective.

It is true to say that I have come to love those adventures, which are right in front of me. Find your own local adventures and appreciate the environment close to where you live, you won’t regret it.