Alps Alternative Week 1 Pembroke.
Day 03 “The Bitches”
There were big springs this week and ideal for a trip out to “the bitches”. These are a series of sharp rocks blocking half of Ramsey Sound. All the tide sweeps through between the Island and the mainland and pours through between and around the rocks producing a lot of white water and waves. These are a fantastic play spot, but you do need to know your tides, only venture out in calm conditions and look out for everyone in the group.
We dropped the boats off at the top of the steps leading down to the old lifeboat house and parked the cars in the few remain car park spaces. Once changed we carried down and launched on the small beach beside the lifeboat ramp. There were numerous “RHIBs” loading with people for the highspeed tour of Ramsey Island, the wildlife and rough water. We took the strong back eddy up as high as we could and then started our ferry across the to “the bitches” rocks. We were not sure we would make it as the tide was extremely strong – at least 6 knots but probably faster. We all made the first eddy behind the outer most rock and gathered our thoughts. We then began to start to play and get used to the water.
Aleksander and Stuart caught the best waves while Roy searched for the infamous large green surf wave behind the middle rock. After a while we all ferried across to the arch with the tide flowing through. It was still far too strong to try and paddle through but provided some fun. We then explored the coastline of Ramsey Island. We found a waterfall and several caves and arches – one of which was about 100m through a headland.
Eventually it was time to return to the mainland. Fortunately, the tide was beginning to slow but we still needed to keep clear of horse rocks in the middle of our return as these can produce strong overfall and whirlpools. Well worth a visit but does require a lot of respect.
