I started writing this post a couple of weeks ago – finally have the time to finish it!
For the last month, every single day off that the other half had has been gorgeous blue skies, but evil winds which made kayaking a bit scary – making big waves on our little waterway. We were suffering from serious kayak withdrawal.
So despite the fact that most of the day was already gone, it was somewhat windy, and clouds were on the way.. it was time to just do it.
As we paddled out we found the two black swans who have been rearing a couple of swan babies not too far from our backyard. We saw them the last time we went kayaking – they have grown a lot since then!
The parents were squawking up a storm, and the little swans were paddling as fast as their little legs would paddle. Seems they find the kayak a little scary. :)
One thing I find about kayaking when the sun is not out – you can’t see into the water. It makes it difficult to know the depth of the water and when you’re in a new spot where you don’t really know the terrain you want to try and keep away from the “edges” so to speak. Which is a shame because I would have liked to get a bit closer to have a look at this spot. It is a reserve, so we’re going to head back for a walk around there.
As we headed back home, the sun got lower in the sky creating some awesome reflections on the water.
When we got back, we found out we were pretty wet from kayaking out into the waves. I know it doesn’t look wavy but it never does in the photos. When we went out today I took some video footage so people will believe me about the waves – maybe this will get posted here in the future.
The great thing about the shark skin for me is that I do not feel the wet or the cold – until I stand up. Then all the water which has collected around my butt runs down the inside of my shark skin towards my toes.
This happens with the bungs in or out, I can’t seem to win – if we leave them out it won’t be wavy and they don’t need to be out so I could have gone without wet butt – if we leave them in the waves will crash over the bow and leave a puddle of water which creates extra wet butt!
I can’t imagine life without the shark skin now. I love them. I can imagine so many uses for them besides kayaking – the windproof aspect of them is the most awesome. I can be warmer being splashed by waves out on the kayak with a big wind blowing right at me than I am sitting here in the house with a rug on. Sounds unbelievable but it is true. :)
When we got in the water, we noticed there were many tiny jellyfish. They were difficult to see for the most part, but you could see their shadows on the sand. Apparently these ones do not sting – if they did we would certainly know about it.
We decided to head down to the mouth of the creek and back, a shorter version of our usual trip.
When we got down to the mouth we discovered both the Dolphin Watch boats were out in the bay and the wharf was completely empty. We spotted one of the boats out in the bay. You can just see it in this pic.
This is the first time we have ever got there at the right moment with both boats out, so we decided to do a paddle along the wharf.
As we paddled along the other, newer Dolphin Watch boat appeared and headed back to the wharf. This one is usually moored in the river, the bigger boat stays tied up at the wharf.
The camera would not focus on the jellyfish which was very frustrating. We were lucky to find a jellyfish with an air bubble in it so we could finally get a decent shot – and we did manage to capture some of the colors.
The ray was heading towards one of the boat ramps. Word on the street is these guys like hang out at boat ramps. I wonder if it is like the cool place to be, because we spotted another one also heading there – this one is known to us because it does not have a tail at all and we’ve seen it many times in the creek. Also hanging out near the boat ramp were these guys.
On the way back there is an amazing dead tree. It fell backwards exposing a huge root structure.
My usual exercise routine has been completely thrown out by our trip, and by this time the muscles in the backs of my thighs were starting to hurt a bit. We decided to call it a day, having been out for 2 hours and 40 minutes according to the i-phone tracking system. Usually those muscles don’t hurt until we’ve been out for four hours, so looks like I have some work to do to get them back into shape. ;)
We use the 
