A kayak is a small raft/boat which can accommodate 1 to 3 people. One has to row it manually to navigate the waters. A variety of kayaks are now available which are suitable for different environments from rapids, still water to sea kayaks.
I had my first kayaking stint at Palolem beach in Goa, India. One could easily rent a kayak here on the beach. What an experience it was, we took a whole round trip across the tiny island on the beach, watched lovely sunset until we were forced to return back by the operators from the shore.
Ever since that first experience on a kayak, I have harboured the dream of having my own kayak as this would allow me to explore the locations I wanted to whenever I wished to. After much waiting and research, I decided to go for an inflatable kayak as this would just allow me the desired freedom to take it wherever I wanted to and also store it safely in the limited space of my apartment. So on my 31st birthday, I gifted myself an ITIWIT 2 person kayak.
Now after kayaking several times in the rivers and the ocean I am left thinking, why didn't I start this earlier. Kayaking has opened the backdoor to my childhood hobbies and childish feelings i.e watching birds, animals, landscapes, sunsets, feeling adventurous, to dare, carefree attitude and allowed me to surrender my tiny self to the infiniteness of the universe. Now I wish to take you on this kayaking adventure along with me to some of my favourite places. This post is about my first experience with my own kayak.
Unpacking of the Kayak in my apartment. Tuff (Pet Lab) claiming his spot. he hopped right in after inflation That's all that is. a perfect compact raft for an apartment dweller like me. |
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On my very first kayaking experience with my own kayak, we decided to head to Assolna, Goa where my brother in law had some friends with boats, they would later turn out to be our rescuers, We entered the water around 5.30 pm on July 1st 2021. We were too excited and were assisted in the water by our fishermen friends.
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Our guardians keeping a watch on us. |
We were just going with the flow, too excited to be floating on the water. With a mild drizzle here and there, we were adjusting ourselves to the comfort of our inflatable kayak. Lying on our back to the kayak floor it felt like the water was my bed and the kayak was just a bed sheet separating me and the water. The sky was overcast with dense dark clouds as if signalling its the calm before the storm.
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Drifting away from our guardians totally immersed in the beautiful experience. |
In all of this experience, we had drifted away from our entry point, not far away we thought. We started rowing back, a few strong strides and some more but no headway. The current was getting stronger against us so we couldn't stop rowing if we had to get to our entry point. After spending a few more minutes fighting against the current soon we realized that we were no match for the strong ebb tidal current coupled with the downstream monsoon river flow. It was at this realization that we turned to our guardians who unlike us had a motor attached to their boat. Thankfully we were towed back to our entry point and departed for home with happy memories of our first experience which could have easily turned sour. I guess that's the adventure part of life that makes life worthwhile.
In the Rescue with our kayak in tow. |
On this day we learned practically how tides influence water flow in the river and that we must look at the tide tables seriously to take advantage of the tides rather than fight against it. This single lesson has been the reason for many of our exciting kayaking adventures later. That's all folks.
See you on another adventure.