For those who follow me on Facebook or Twitter you are aware I am taking on a new hobby, kayaking. So for those people that read the blog from a trucking perspective this may have no interest to you. I do need to share some of my experiences though.
For most of my life I have lived a relatively sedentary lifestyle. I used to work my ass off and found that I had little time to enjoy life outside of work. Sad really but in Canada most of us are like that. For those that have found the balance, good on ya. You are blessed.
If you ask a North American what he or she does they will tell you they are an IT guy or an engineer, a nurse what ev, you get it. If you ask a European the same question he or she will say Oh, I ski, or I Volksmarch or raise a family....again you get the pic. We, on this side of the pond, let our work define us.
So I have taken up Kayaking in an effort to offset the number of hours I toil. I go on about a four day on four day off cycle however the hours I put in are in the order of 60+ during the cycle.
So Kayaking: Our first day out, last Saturday was less than banner. We schlepped the boat to West beach up the street and my daughter and I took turns. I managed to get soaked first time out and froze the rest of the outing.....enter buyers remorse.
All week I thought that perhaps I had done the wrong thing and maybe it only looked appealing to sit in a small boat, watching the sun rise behind the Cascade Mountain range and Mt Baker. Their shadows becoming shorter until you felt it....that radiance. There is something about the smell of the ocean in the morning that surely I would be missing if I did not make a go of this.
I tried over an over again through out the week to get out but I have learned that the tide needs be just right, calm seas and as little breeze as possible. Living on the Pacific South West coast you get what you get. Just when you think you are in for a decent day all hell breaks loose.
Fast forward to today.....awesome. We managed to get a beautiful day and I was prepared. Last night I assembled the roof rack, and proceeded to load the two kayaks on the Subaru. That was a bit frustrating and the level of frustration could only be surpassed by the fact I could not get out of our underground garage.....Remember....sitting...little boat...sunrise.....horse shit I say.
I would not let that deter me and started fresh this morning. Brilliant sunshine, ocean like glass, no wind, tide at a relative stand still. Off we went to Crescent Beach an launched the boats.
My goal was to stay drier that last week. Success. To top it off we were able to snap shots of a Golden Eagle, movie of a Harbor Seal, a number of Dungenous Crabs racing to get out of the tide pools before said eagle had his way with them.
Updates to follow....that is if anything interesting comes along.
Later.
