Would this be a family outing time which I simply needed to endure, survive?
As my paddle accidentally bumped Stuey's paddle, he would turn around in disgust and cry out "Moooommm!!!' then return to aggressive paddling. To make matters worse, Patrick and Nora were far ahead of us and Patrick was going as slow as he could with Nora. This made Stuey more disappointed with me- as our fastest kayaking was still slower than Patrick's slowest Kayaking. Sigh. I felt like a part of me was on the water to check that box '-tried kayaking as a family'.
As we weaved along the coastline and passed graveyard point, I realized I was actually enjoying myself. I found the 'deep' water only mildly scary and the security of Patrick nearby helped ease my mild anxiety of being in the ocean in such a small vessel. Stuey and I found our rhythm of paddling together and we seemed to get more patient with each other. When he put his paddle all the way in the water with nice long pulls through the water, I complimented him and he'd reply with the sweetest little, "Thank you."
My goal was to to reach a point of land which was far away from our campsite and I was curious what was around it. We made it there in a few hours with a few beach stops and snack breaks. As we turned the corner, the ocean current was quite strong-pulling us farther from our origin. Patrick encouraged us to turn around, as the tide and winds would make it a hard return unless we waited until later.
I'm already scheming future kayak trips in Afognak. Possible overnights, portages when the kids are older. And nearby cabins and people we can visit. Kayaking in Afognak has opened up a whole new world of possibilities of adventures.
And I love the inflatable kayak design. I'm sold. They are stable, fast, and can withstand a good thrashing around on rocks, etc from kids. And I can bend my legs up to give them a little stretch. I realized that the thing I've never enjoyed about standard kayaks is how your legs are straight and its hard to get position changes AND you're worried about scratching the kayak on rocks. All elements which are a non-issue in the inflatables.
Many more cliffs and beaches to be explored and ocean currents to navigate together as a family!
Zoya
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| Stuey and Nora also kayaked on their own - there was on onshore breeze that kept them on the beach. Periodically we had to push them off the beach. |
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| We sat and watched them kayak - hours of entertainment |
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| They improved dramatically and we closely monitored a trip around the point - John S is just off shore in a skiff and we walked along the beach |
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