As soon as I saw the pod of orca whales, I told Rick they were heading our way. He immediately paddled hard toward the center of the channel for a picture (I, on the other hand, paddled closer to shore).
As he waited patiently, eye in the view finder of the camera, several whales flanked his boat. One large male came so close that the animal’s body rocked the boat, and Rick made eye contact as he came to the surface.
For close encounters, it is hard to beat an afternoon in a kayak.
Photo by Rick LeBlancKayaks are good for close encounters.Sliding effortlessly along in the water, looking over the side at the shoreline or staring at the bottom has given us hours of pleasure. We have visited many areas inaccessible by boat – or even tender – and some of the nicest photos and videos Rick has made have been done from the seat of his kayak.
We have also been very impressed with the stability of these boats. We have seen some spunky weather – including steep three footers – and the boats have always carried us home safely. But most of the time, we paddle in calm water on a meandering cruise to enjoy sightseeing and wildlife, much of which would shoot by without notice on a larger, faster boat.
DIFFERENT STROKES
Rick and I live aboard our 40-foot trawler, Sea Foam, and for a long time riding on a “small boat” meant a trip aboard out aluminum-hulled RIB with it’s 50 HP outboard.
We got into kayaking after some lessons with my friend, Carole Gwin, an avid sea kayaker who often takes off for weeks at a time to go camping with members of her kayak and canoe club. I expected the boat to be tippy. I thought I would be uncomfortable with the idea of not being able to free my legs and swim if it capsized.
Carole showed us how to correctly position our hands on the paddles to minimize the effort and maximize the forward movement. We also were shown how to place the paddle in the water to stabilize if there were any waves rocking the boat. It wasn’t summer weather when we first tried out the kayaks, so we didn’t make any attempts to tip out and see if we could get back in again.
After we spent the day paddling together in a protected inlet near our home, we knew we wanted boats of our own. The idea was to carry the kayaks with us on the trawler, but we weren’t sure initially what we wanted or needed.
