This first post took me a while to get up and running. It's one of those things, "Ya, I'll start a blog in a few days..." I've been meaning to do it and we'll see how often I get around to posting things - I guess the main reason isn't so much to bore you with my ramblings of thought, but to post photos.
Sure, I could post them on Photo Bucket or some hosting service but I also wanted the freedom to add a few details to the pictures. What good is uploading a shot of some trees if you don't know the story behind it? Or why I went where I went? You get the idea.
I've always wanted to Kayak. After we'd moved to Washington, one of my hobbies was going to take up Kayaking. I took a class on Bainbridge and enjoyed it. However, the temperature of the water became a significant issue as well as the overall weather pattern. The water in Seattle was typically in the low 50's and kayaking involves splashing. Cold water and Don don't mix too well. Couple that with rain and fog and the outside air temp hovering at 60, it was just too much to ask for a beginner. Granted, the hard corps Kayakers thrive in that weather and love it. I'm not hard corps. To make a long story short, I put the whole kayaking thing on hold.
Now that we are in a warmer climate, those nagging kayaking thoughts came back to me. Two weekends ago I decided to go by myself an see what it'd be like in Sydney Harbor. The water here is calm (except near the heads) and fairly warm. If I tipped over and made a fool of myself, at least I wouldn't freeze in a matter of minutes. So off I went to rent a kayak....
(Click on the any of the photos to enlarge them)
I found a rental place near the Spit Bridge and paddled up Middle Harbor. $22.00 an hour which included everything - Kayak, paddle & life vest. It's odd because the rental place didn't ask for any sort of "sign your life away" type of document. I gave them an emergency phone number and paid. That was it... no instruction either. I climbed into the thing and the dude in shorts above just pushed me off the sand. "Have fun mate!" Thankfully there was nobody else around because I struggled with it for a few minutes. If you tense up, the boat wobbles and capsizing is real. But if you chill and relax, all is good - and you glide through the water. So, I ponied up two hours worth and was off....
I passed under the Spit Bridge and headed up to Willoughby Bay. I paddled up through moored boats all the way just enjoying the moment. It was quite, warm out, and very peaceful.
Paddling around exploring the sand stone rock formations was really fun.
This guy was a long way from home!
I paddled into a small cove where the water was only about two feet deep... and I came upon this wreck. I hadn't read about it on any websites so it was a real mystery to me. I circled around it a few times taking different photos. There were two very large geese that made it their home and when they saw me, went to the highest point and started squawking. They flapped their wings to tell me to get lost, which I did in a hurry. The last thing I wanted to become was some short clip on a funniest video show. I can see it now.... "novice kayaker gets attacked by geese, tips over in shallow water, slices shoes and feet on sharp oyster shells and swims into channel to escape".
When I got home, I did a quick internet search and found out there are actually two ships located in the same area - Salt Pan Creek (which is directly across from Willoughby Bay). I found out this one is called the
Itata. It was built in 1883 in Liverpool England and was destroyed by fire in Newcastle in 1906. It was towed to this location and abandoned where it's been sitting ever since.
With the the wreck being the highlight of my paddling day, I decided to head back as it was starting to close in on an hour and half. That left me with 30 minutes but I managed to take the leisurely way back and enjoy more of the sights.
I enjoyed this trip so much, I did it again this last weekend. But I'll post more later.
