Kayak Journey!

Sometimes things work out much better than you could ever imagine and that was the case the day I took my good friend Dave on his first kayak safari up the Estero River!

You see Dave is one of those busy Real Estate guys who never seems to be able to commit to anything but is always saying how he would like to go kayaking with me. So one day I finally backed him into a corner and shamed him into going with me.

Now first of all, for those of you who are familiar with the sport of kayaking, you know that the skill level of kayaking can range from NONE to MUCH! The type of kayak and the type of water you are kayaking in determine skill level required. As a professional kayak instructor and guide I am constantly assessing students to determine where they need to start in the kayaking world.

With that said, I chose the inaugural paddle for Dave to be on a Sit On Top kayak (minimum skill level) and an easy paddle on a very beautiful river here in South Florida called the Estero River. We put in at the Koreshan State Park boat ramp, an easy place to get a newbie into the boat without messing up his hair or pressed shirt. Real Estate guys seem to always wear pressed shirts! Although I would not ask and certainly would never know, my guess is his underwear was also pressed!

The Estero River to the east is protected waterway offering a journey into "Old Florida" with Spanish moss hanging from Live Oaks, beautiful birds, turtles, fish and river plants of all kind. Occasionally we can even see an alligator or two along the way before the river narrows down to a point that even a small kayak can no longer move east.

I chose this course because I knew that if Dave ran out of steam (he's MUCH older than me and making it easy on him was important -haha!) I would be able to sling a rope around his kayak and tow him back to the ramp with the help of the down stream current!

So after giving him a brief lesson on paddle handling and boat maneuvering, I helped him get into the kayak and once I determined he was ready to go, I gently pushed him away from the ramp and told him to try out his paddling skills and see how the kayak handled. About 45 seconds later Dave was in the bushes! Oh well, being a kayaking instructor, I was kind of hurt that a student was so inept at such an early stage of the paddling session. However, after a moment of processing what I just saw I realized that even the best instruction cannot overcome learning disabilities at times :0).

It did not take long before we were enjoying the peace of the river and the tranquil setting of this place. The ibis and herons on the banks patiently waiting for a fish to swim by, fish gently gliding against the current, turtles sunning on branches that lay close to waters edge, and Dave splashing around, hitting the side of the boat with his paddle, running into logs and bush. What a wonderful day!

Well, to be honest he was not that bad. Not really. As we moved up stream into the narrower more shallow area we came across a 6 foot gator sunning on the shore. Dave was a little nervous but we startled him so he splashed into the water about 8 feet from us and I advised Dave to continue to paddle up river and not worry about the gator. I guess he trusted me and moved on.

We traveled as far as we could go and turned around and headed back down river. Much to my surprise, he seemed to be doing OK and I realized that he may be able to make this journey without having a coronary!

The trip was great with perfect weather, calm breeze, gentle temps, and lots to see. As we rounded out of a curve in the river there was the gator right back where we had encountered him before, sunning on the river bank.

I asked Dave to place his kayak between me and the gator so I could take a picture of the two of them. At first his boat was about 25 feet away from the sunning dinosaur. Too far to get a good pic. So, I asked Dave to move closer! "Why?" Dave asked. "I need you to move closer so I can get a good picture of you and the gator!" I said. "Why?" Dave asked. Now, what's hard to understand about my request? It was quite simple. MOVE CLOSER TO THE GATOR! OK, we were running out of time and the gator was starting to get annoyed. All the time, however, Dave WAS getting closer to the gator.

Now was the time to click the shot! Dave's usual confident smiling face appeared a little tense when I viewed the photo the first time! Congratulations to my friend Dave for his inaugural yak safari and for not getting eaten! We made it back safe, prematurely from my perspective because Dave could not head down the river with me because of "previous appointments". My guess is that there no longer was a crease in his shorts!

Got an Everglades trip tomorrow so until then, goodnight all!