Like many things on
this trip the sea kayaking seemed a good idea at the time, less so 12 hours
later when we are about to actually take to the water!
We are up early and meet our guide Nick on
the beach at 8.30am. After the safety
briefing which basically consists of 'don’t worry it is flat calm you will all
be ok' and 'if you manage to roll your kayak you must have been doing
something very stupid' we are kitted out with buoyancy aids and spray skirts (to
stop us taking on water and sinking).
Time to go – Mr M at the back in full command on steering and me in the
front setting the pace and navigating – Nick gives us a big push off and off we
go into the deep blue sea.
We are a small group of
3 kayaks and head out to some cool volcanic islands in the Bay. We see a penguin on the way, cormorants and
fur seals and some exciting rocky features.
Paddling is going well at this point too – we even enjoy going up and over some big rollers on the other side of the island. We seem to have taken to
it like a couple of ducks to the water!
Mr M trying very hard to balance an old volcano on the end of his paddle... |
Next
up we paddle to Cathedral Cove – an amazingly beautiful beach with a natural rock
arch through the cliff and also a very impressive stack.
Stack through arch |
It is also time for a
hot chocolate – Nick whips out his camping stove and some milk from his heavily
laden kayak and gets to work – the best hot chocolates in quite a while as we
had certainly worked hard for them!
Nick rustling up some top notch drinks |
After a good explore
of the beach and a rest from our paddling it is sadly time to paddle on. We get back in and Mr M and I are to be
launched off first. Launching off in a
kayak is apparently quite technical as if it goes wrong and you are launched at
the wrong time / wrong angle etc you can get very wet or just end up in the
water……
We wait a good couple
of minutes until the conditions are seemingly perfect, missing the big waves,
until we are pushed off. Shame Nick
didn’t see the big one coming…… Being at the front of the boat I had a couple of
seconds warning as to what was about to happen, as time stood still and the
extremely large wave a good 10 inches above my head loomed in front of us. In such a situation I did the only thing
which came naturally and screamed, before being given a total dunking head to
waist soaking wet in cold Pacific Ocean!
Nevertheless I am brave and unstoppable after our previous world
adventures and carry on paddling regardless.
Mrs M mid paddle |
We carry on around the
coast – going through some more arches and see some other good volcanic rock
formations. As the waves and wind start
to pick up its sadly time to head back to the shore. Despite both being head to toe dripping wet
we have both had the best morning and found we really enjoyed sea kayaking –
now looking forward to our next paddling adventure or perhaps time to get into
training for Rio 2016!
Mrs M.
Jealous. I've tried not to check your blog too often as it is making this report writing much more difficult. Weather is closing in here so make the most of the weather!
ReplyDeleteDr.V left last week and sent his regards. His 'Last Breakfast' was a hit with three loaves of bread... you would have been proud.
Happy travelling,
Mike
Sea Kayaking looks ace !
ReplyDeleteA great way to see the coastline.
I'm continuing to be jealous !!