Paddle! Paddle! Paddle!

Thursday, 20 December

I met Beth at the bus depot at 8:30 to go to the beach. We found the kayak rental place that Dorothy went to last week and we went kayaking. We went in a two seater for it was very choppy and the guy said the two-seater was more stable and better to use to get out of the waves. So we put on live vests, got our paddles and walked out into the water. The water was very shallow for a long time so we walked out a good distance. Then Beth and I got in and waited for the guy to tell us to start paddling. The waves were at least 4 feet tall and he was waiting for a calm spot so we could get out. While we were waiting waves were crashing over the front of the kayak and Beth and I were getting drenched. It kind of felt like white water rafting without moving or paddling. There was finally a calm point and he yelled ‘Paddle! Paddle! Paddle!’ and so we did. We made it out a little ways and passed a surfer who also yelled ‘Paddle! Paddle! Paddle!’. After we got through the waves and had a chance to catch our breathes I was reminded of Tom Hanks in Cast Away trying to escape the island. Our waves was no where as bad as his, but that is kind of the feeling we had. The water out in the ocean was rolling a lot, again about 4 foot swells. I did not pay any attention to this at first but after about a half-hour, I started to get queazy.
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Kayaking on the Salt

On Sunday, a group of 10 of us went kayaking down the salt on the 3.5 hour trip (about 9 miles). This is the same trip that Hans and I first did on the Salt back in July, except this time he and I were the guides.

Overall, everyone had a good time:

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Kayaking


Back in February, Hans and I took a kayaking class through the City of Tempe and it was very, very cool. The class was at an indoor wave pool and in the last session they turned the waves on. This was by far the best part.

The only down side was that we could not figure out how to do the eskimo roll. We hope to take another class so we can get this part down.

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