Since I lap swim pretty much 5 days a week I though It would be great to kayak on Sundays. Living on a lake and near Puget Sound I have a little background in kayaking and a friend and I earlier kayaked to Las Gattas for the day. Paddling a kayak is the easy part , for me the getting in and out is the difficult part. At home Puget Sound is about 45 degrees, even in the summer. In Mexico the water is warm about 82 degrees and a water launch is no problem. I arrived at La Madera Beach about 9:30, earlier than the kayak people. But they soon came and I struck my deal of an hour and a half for 200 pesos.
I pushed the kayak into the water and climbed in, not very gracefully, but only wet to my knees. Timed the waves just right and paddled right over them and I was on my way. (I’ll admit these were just little breakers)
My plan was to cross over to the clear green water along the path to Las Gattas hope fully to see some under water life. Either the water was too deep, or underwater life not cooperative as I didn’t see anything special there. But that’s OK as it is only the
destination and the trip was marvelous. Saw only one kayak on the way over and waved to the family of 4 enjoying their outing. Enjoyed the quite on the water, watching birds circle, loving the warm air and the cooling breeze, and singing old camp canoeing songs to myself. Perfectly wonderful, peaceful way to spend a morning.
I was quite proud of my return beach landing, but I now realize coming clear on to the beach is not the best for me. The kayak is on the beach with me swinging my legs over one side and a 10 year old “muchacho” holding out his hand to help me stand up. Little does he know that this is almost an impossibility for me to get from a crouched position to a standing position with less than 2 men and a small boy pulling. While he tried valiantly several times I simply can not get my knees to cooperate. (Now it’s real easy to blame everything on my 2 artificial knees, but I think I need to do some serious working on leg muscles.) Now two ladies of similar age of me recognized the difficulties I was having and came to the rescue and after many more tries with the three of them I finally got to my feet. I think in future trips I simple need to get off the kayak in waist deep water and walk the kayak to shore. (That won’t work in Puget Sound, but there I usually kayak with a group or maybe I need a wet suit so I can solo)
After a quick lunch at La Madera I walked up to the mercado to get a few things needed for the next day and quickly returned to our apartment to shower and head out to do my shift at the Sailfest Desk. A common fault of mine is crowding too much into too small of a time period which leaves me rushing. I did my 4 hour shift, mostly sitting and when I got up I could hardly walk. I had done some serious pulling or stretching of muscles trying to haul myself up out of that kayak. Hobbled back to the apartment decided that a bottle of wine an some movie watching was it for me. The next morning was worse, no dancing for me tonight at the Sailfest Welcome party. Signing off KO
Zihuathyme 