Kayaking

Well, I fell in 30 seconds into my kayaking experience. And was pretty embarrassed about it. And went right back out again (without falling in again) and had something to talk about for the rest of the trip. And I paid almost $900 for it, which is a lot… but, once again, it may have actually been worth it. And not for the normal reasons either – it’s because kayaking always gave you a choice: land or kayak. In the end, I kayaked five times out of the possible eleven (?) they had offered. Missed out on a fun slide on one of the landings, but that wasn’t nearly enough to tip the scales.

They say kayaking gets you that much closer to the wildlife. I don’t how true that is – the zodiacs get you awfully, awfully close, and they buzz all over the place, whereas we are a bit limited by our paddle power. Then again, when you are sitting in a kayak, your butt probably water level, and a 900 pound leopard seal with its blood-thirsty reptile-like look dives under you, and you have no idea where he’ll come back up… well, you feel pretty damn close to nature! And when Lousie nonchalantly mentions that you just may want to keep your elbows away from the water (lest he should mistake them for something tasty), you tuck them in right fast.

The very last time out, I finally learned to appreciate silence too… There wasn’t much wildlife out there (a seal here, a whale there, a few penguins swimming everywhere), so the zodiacs weren’t usually near us, and it got quiet… The icebergs sat peacefully in the water. We made big noise when the kayaks would hit the ice we were paddling through. And the ice/snow would make huge noise when an occasional avalanche would come down up above, or an iceberg would calve down below… Did I mention it was sunny, there was no wind whatsoever, and we didn’t really paddle all that hard – on this day, Paradise Harbor was serenity.

I hear some woman actually swam across Paradise Harbor recently – she’s fucking insane, whether she had a wet/dry suit on or not, and no matter how freakishly better her blood circulation is that most of ours!

Orne and Paradise Harbors

Morning: couldn’t do the landing we’d planned – another ship’s there (?). Kayaking in a big harbor filled with ice floes. See chinstrap penguins on shore for the first time – a leopard seal and humpbacks seem like more of same old, same old by now.
Afternoon: kayaking in Paradise Harbor, didn’t see that much – a couple leopard seals, a Minke whale that didn’t want to hang around and an ice cave that kept sending chunks of ice down, so we couldn’t approach (Safety Third?). The water was the calmest I’d seen yet though, absolutely still. Starting to learn how to appreciate the silence – out there on a kayak, it’s amazingly still and beautiful. The zodiacs really do distract a bit from all the serenity. Bright and sunny day too – warm enough that Jane and Kieran went for a dip at the end. Not by accident.
Third day in a row of spectacular sunsets in the evening. We’ve done well the with weather… my contacts with the Russian crew say this is certainly the time to come here – weather’s best and the whales are here en force. Heading due North now, leaving the peninsula and aiming for South Shetland islands tomorrow.