Kayaking Adventures

Charleston is an awesome place to live. Seriously, there is so much to do and recently Wes and I have realized that are taking advantage of about 3.5 percent of it. We have been to the beach once this summer. Once! And, though I think I go more than some people, we don't get downtown as much as I would like. And now that Noah is older there all sorts of other things opening up to us. Like, for instance, sea kayaking.

Wes and I have wanted to try it out for awhile and we took advantage of my Mom being in town this weekend to give it a whirl. We signed up for a 3 hour guided kayak session departing at Folly Beach. (A funny story: When Wes called to book the appointment the lady asked if we each wanted our own boat or did we want to share a boat. When Wes hesitated, she informed him that they call the double boats their "divorce boats". 'Nuff said! We each got our own thank you very much!)

We got there Saturday morning and despite really strong winds and choppy waters we set out, with a guide and one other couple, to explore the water. I will confess, it took me a good 5 minutes to figure out how to coordinate working my paddle and my rudder to steer the boat. I was terrified that I would be the weak link in our group but before I knew it the other guy in our group tipped his boat and fell in the water during those first 5 minutes and I breathed a sigh of relief. While he struggled to get back in I figured out how it all worked, and by the time we were off I had things under control! (This is where I will add that Wes glided into the water and acted like he was a freaking kayaking professional and I so badly wanted to ram into him on purpose in an effort to knock him over and deflate his ego a bit. If I could have done that without turning my own boat over in the process I probably would have!)

We followed our guide through extremely difficult to maneuver choppy water over to a little island (called Long Island) that eventually blocked us from some of the wind. Because the tide was so high we ended up going further into the island than our guide had ever gone before. It was pretty cool to be able to explore places that you couldn't otherwise see in any other way.

We got all sorts of interesting info from our guide too. I eagerly listened to anything that was historically interesting and then tuned out most of what he said when he started naming all sorts of plants and animals and anything too scientific. Especially when he started yammering on about bird wildlife. (You all know how I feel about birds I think). I half listened and half whipped my head around frantically to make sure that the birds he was telling us about weren't flying to close to my boat. (Another story... Wes really perked up when he told us all about a bird who had natural bifocal vision. Oh yeah, that really got him all worked up about the wonders of the eye!)

By the time we headed back I was definitely getting tired. Kayaking is for sure a total body workout. Arms, back, core, and even my legs were getting sore. The nature stuff is great, but that was my favorite part about the whole thing. Finding new and exciting ways to fit in a workout really gets me going! Kind of like Wes and his amazing bird vision.......

We have decided that next time we are going to bring Noah back with us, as he would totally LOVE it! And don't be surprised if we start scouring Craigslist for a used kayak. It was a really wonderful way to enjoy this beautiful place that we live in!