Inside Sandy Hook

To say the landscape here is unusual would be an understatement. Sure, we have sand dunes on New Brunswick's eastern shore and in the northeastern region of Lameque, but the dunes here are in a class of their own. They go on for miles. And miles. And even kilometres.

Sandy Hook was the scene of yesterday morning's fun. I met semi-local windsurfing guru Jean Gaudet at 8 a.m. in La Grave. We sized up the wind (16 knots) and the cold (12 degrees) and then decided, at our age, it's now or never. I rigged a 5.9. Jean a 5.8. We launched at La Grave, sailed out of the bay and headed northeast towards Sandy Hook.

We had a master plan that involved Finn, Sachiko, and Robert. They were to launch directly on Inside Sandy Hook and we would meet them there. Neither of our three comrades had ever sailed Inside Sandy Hook so I was excited for them to experience it. Sandy Hook, on the inside on a sunny day, is very much like the Caribbean. The water is clear and it's pure sand below. Gorgeous, friendly sand. And it's shallow like the Brian Mulroney's moral character!

After about a half hour of ripping up and down the beach, we were joined by Finn, Sachiko and Robert. As this was Robert's debut session in the Iles de la Madeleine ocean, we now refer to him as King Neptune. I'm still Captain Nemo and Jean Gaudet is basically just God (he does everything well...and he's benevolent!).

If you look at today's first image, you'll see some unnamed windsurfer gorging on les fruits de mer (doesn't translate literally, but that has seldom stopped me). He or she is sailing on the inside of Sandy Hook which you see as a narrow beach and dune in the mid-ground. Entry Island is in the background. It's not as close as it looks. The telephoto lens compresses distances. In fact, Entry Island is a good 5 kilometres away from the tip of Sandy Hook, pronounced Sandy 'Ook locally. The haitch is silent, hiff you know what hi mean.

Every windsurfing trip to les Îles should include a day inside Sandy Hook. Luckily pour petit vieux moi, this trip did.