Kayak Adventure - May 14 Part II

Next stop is a National Park beach for kayaking. Some of us have to scramble to drag out various kayaking accoutrements such as bathing suits, from our packed bags in the rear of the bus, and in the rush I forget my kayak booties. Then we line up for the single bathroom stall in the small Park building, for peeing and changing (the other one is being fixed). Finally we lay out towels under some trees and eat a picnic lunch of chicken/bacon sandwiches, swatting the occasional biting horsefly. Then it is time to kayak. Ben and I look doubtfully at the breakers out past the calmer cove. Ben decides he prefers a siesta, but I don’t want to just sit around while everyone else paddles, so Tavo, our intrepid guide, agrees I can paddle with him. Neither of us has our glasses on (my contacts which I would have normally put in for this were back on the bus), but he seems unperturbed. I get some welcome vigorous exercise and things go well until we start in toward the far beach. We are heading perpendicular to the wave that catches us from behind, but the nose of the kayak goes down and then we are in the water. I blow water out my nose, pop to the surface, and actually remember to hang on to my paddle, although the badly fitting life-jacket pushes up against my neck. Tavo sees that I am OK and not panicking. He retrieves his paddle and turns over the boat, and hops on. With gentle coaching I am able to pull myself up, chest down across the back of the kayak, then twist my legs around so I am face down facing forward, then manage to get to my knees and finally sit back up in the seat. Yay! Instead of being bummed, I find myself elated that I was able to recover and I am glad we dumped (it was also nice to cool off!). But I decide that I had had enough for the day, so we turn around and paddle back to our launching point. It turns out one of the other couples also fell in before we did, although they were able to quickly recover, having had experience in surf (unlike me). Everyone else gets back in short order, and all are ready to head to the hotel. I feel quite elated the rest of the day, and Ben and I enjoy a complementary drink at the hotel bar before dinner, where we watch 2 waitresses folding napkins into penguins. I try too and succeed and we all laugh. Sadly, dinner out is the least interesting meal we have had, in a touristy restaurant and bar, with a really bad singer guitarist who unsuccessfully solicits tips from our table. We realize that we are gradually returning to civilization.