This past Sunday, with much of the dead fish washed away, we decided to venture into new waters. We purchased a new kayak saddle that mounts onto the bike rack, and up went Paxi & Inti to the roof for their first real car ride. Uff!
After about 35 minutes, we arrived at the small peninsular War Veteran's Memorial Park in St. Petersburg, FL. It boasts a small seashell crusted kayak/canoe launch that opens right up to the lovely-yet-shark-infested Boca Ciega Bay.
Maybe it should have been of significance that the park was practically deserted (clue #1) or that the wave swells were huge (clue #2). After a few minutes of paddling like usual, I began complaining that I wasn't moving forward; M. turned around and informed me that I was actually moving backwards (clue #3). When I realized that we had forgotten the tow rope, we re-docked, grabbed it, and ignoring M.'s protest (clue #4), launched again. This time, we paddled HARD and made it to the end of the peninsula. I wish I could say that at the moment, I stopped to appreciate the vast beauty, but actually I just stopped to catch my breath (clue #5). M. was only a kayak or two's length away, but he was yelling and I could barely hear him over the whooshing wind (clue #6). WIND?! The 15 - 20 mph gusts were not something we had had factored into our plans. We finally accepted what Mother Nature kept trying to tell us: come back another day. After quickly spinning the yaks, we rode in like bandits and arrived safely (and soaked) back to shore.
Exhausted and exhilarated, we collapsed onto a bayside bench to enjoy a picnic of red gatorade (yum) & doritos (yummier). Gather 'round kids!
The lesson here: you can not beat Mother Nature. And you probably shouldn't challenge her too much either. But we'll be back...when the winds die down.
After about 35 minutes, we arrived at the small peninsular War Veteran's Memorial Park in St. Petersburg, FL. It boasts a small seashell crusted kayak/canoe launch that opens right up to the lovely-yet-shark-infested Boca Ciega Bay.
Maybe it should have been of significance that the park was practically deserted (clue #1) or that the wave swells were huge (clue #2). After a few minutes of paddling like usual, I began complaining that I wasn't moving forward; M. turned around and informed me that I was actually moving backwards (clue #3). When I realized that we had forgotten the tow rope, we re-docked, grabbed it, and ignoring M.'s protest (clue #4), launched again. This time, we paddled HARD and made it to the end of the peninsula. I wish I could say that at the moment, I stopped to appreciate the vast beauty, but actually I just stopped to catch my breath (clue #5). M. was only a kayak or two's length away, but he was yelling and I could barely hear him over the whooshing wind (clue #6). WIND?! The 15 - 20 mph gusts were not something we had had factored into our plans. We finally accepted what Mother Nature kept trying to tell us: come back another day. After quickly spinning the yaks, we rode in like bandits and arrived safely (and soaked) back to shore.Exhausted and exhilarated, we collapsed onto a bayside bench to enjoy a picnic of red gatorade (yum) & doritos (yummier). Gather 'round kids! The lesson here: you can not beat Mother Nature. And you probably shouldn't challenge her too much either. But we'll be back...when the winds die down.
2 comments:
Glad you made it back to shore safely! I'm sure it will be awesome when you get a chance to go back in better weather. :-)
We will definitely be going back. There are some mangrove islands close by that we'd like to explore, and maybe picnic on.
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