Sea Kayaking

We have completed our first family sea kayaking trip!  This was a first for all of us, our friend Yan had a few trips under his belt so he was designated trip leader.  
We put in at Carey's Bay in the Otago Harbour, about 10 minutes from our house.  

Once out of the Harbour and out in the open ocean we stopped at Aramoana Beach for lunch and a few pictures.

The cliffs were truly amazing.  John and Grace had a close encounter with a blue penguin swimming out in the ocean and a seal playing in the waves off one of the rocky beaches.  They were able to paddle right up next to him.  Pretty cool!!

My first attempt to surf a kayak was in the approach to Long Beach, which ended in my first swim in the Pacific Ocean... Above you see Yan graciously pumping the water out of my boat.  Surprisingly the water wasn't too cold, though once out on the beach in the wind for a bit I was reaching for dry clothes.  Grace was a bit cold as well so she put on John's black fleece... Which made her look like Quasimodo or Igor... I could not stop laughing at her.

In length the whole trip was around 16 kilometers and took us around 5 and a half hours to complete.  The takeout was in a tiny town called Waitati which is around a 45 minute drive to our front door.  Since we set shuttle before our trip we had both cars at the takeout and we were able to head home without delay.

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