Sunset Kayaking...and all it brought

If you've read in order, you've heard of the early morning sunrise, but not the end of that day with the sea kayaking sunset.

After going up to the sunrise and getting breakfast, Deanna and I came back home and slept...we lazed around until about 4:00 then headed back into town with plans of dining and kayaking. One perk of working on the island is that a lot of places give discounts...probably more than we know about. The sea kayaking place we went to offered free trips if you were on standby. So we called around 2:00pm to check...there were 11 out of 12 spots left. Check in at 3:00pm...11 out of 12 left...AWESOME! We get to go for free! Call at 4:00 right before we leave and there are 3 spots left. Oh well, we reserve them as paying customers. It's $30 each so it's not too bad.

We head into town to eat at McKay's. Great food. If you're coming out here, eat there. Walk back towards the kayaking place and stop in a recreation store to get some "gear". I buy a fleece vest and some water-resistant pants. Deanna buys a top and pants that are both non-cotton. We were told when we first checked the place out that it can get cold out there and that cotton is bad to wear...so we were very concerned. We get to the kayak place at 6:20 and they say "we were going to give you 1 more minute"...there were two people waiting for our slots. Good thing we said we'd pay.

The people joining us consisted of a guy by himself, six 10-16 year-olds who were all together, and a mother and son who had seen us in a show the night before. The son gave the suggestion "101 ways to use throw-up" for our Dimestore Novel. He kept staring at me like I was a god while we were sitting there getting our gear.

Speaking of gear, everyone else was wearing shorts and T-shirts. They gave us aqua socks, a PFD, and a windbreaker. I would have been fine in any of my other clothes, but now I have a vest. The one kid's shock and awe wears off and he moves on to "bit phase" where he makes clever little comments about everything...to kind of show "hey, I'm one of you guys, right?" We get our safety training and go down to load.

The kayak that Deanna and I end up with turns out to be the first to load. I'm thinking "Cool! We can paddle around while everyone else is loading!" Wrong. We are told to paddle out to another dock and hold on until we're all out there holding on to each other's kayaks.

Then...WE'RE OFF! Since we were the first ones to get to the dock, we were the last ones to push off.

This view is right after we left. The three kayaks you see closest to us in the picture are the 6 10-16 year olds. One boy, who is the youngest. The rest are girls all at least 2 years older than the boy. They were all over the place and not paying much attention to anything around them...kind of like a 2 year old child running full speed while looking to the side. They were a blockade at this point and a pain in the ass. When we would try to go around them they would either think we were racing them or they would start racing each other. More on them later.

So we head out to go around the right of the island. Kayaking is awesome. I would do it again if I could find a bigger kayak (more on that later as well). We saw some cool wildlife while we were out. As we got closer to the island we saw some birds that were related to Puffins (can't remember the name). Right next to us, floating along gracefully was a Jellyfish. That was a first. Later on, as we came around the mountain, we saw a Bald Eagle. This was only the second time in my life that I've seen a Bald Eagle. It was great. Apparently there is a nest on the island. We also saw a seal pop up, and later...harbor porpoises. That was pretty damn cool as well. As we were paddling along a larger boat came up to watch the sunset as well...tourists. We're everywhere.

Our guide leading the way.

The like of kayaks.

All the boats getting along together.

Best shot on the roll.

All of the pics were taking on a Kodak waterproof disposable I bought before we left...not too bad.

So...back to the kids. At one point, about half way through the trip the boat with young boy from the six kids ran into our boat while we were all clearly stopped. It wasn't the first time he had run into any one. Each kayak had two people, the rear person steer the rudder, but anyone can stop the boat. When he ran into us I turned and said "hey, if you see something bright and yellow in front of you, it's probably another kayak." I didn't say it too angrily, but it definitely wasn't friendly. We kind of steer clear of them then stay behind them for the rest of the trip. I have to do a lot of hard stops as they weave in front of us absentmindedly, but atleast I can control it. Deanna tells me I made the boy cry when I told him that thing...I felt a little bad, but it's better for him to cry than for any one to get capsized because of him.

The whole trip my feet are killing me. My feet are big, and there isn't any padding in the slightest on the aqua socks. I couldn't wait to get out. It wasn't until I got out that I also realized my knees were trashed. I had my knees popping up in the hole because I couldn't get them in the hole...thus the need for a bigger boat. Still though...I would definitely do it again...with no kids there.