Kayaking Adventures

The same group that sponsered Girls Night Out also offered a kayaking trip. Our group was going to meet up with another group who did club sporting events to go on a kayaking trip. It sounded like great fun to G and I so we signed up. And, put down a sizeable deposit. (gulp)

Saturday late afternoon rolls around and we pack up a travel bag to take with us: bottled water, camera in plastic baggie (of course), windbreakers, etc. The dog is walked and off we go! The drive from Tampa to Bay Pines Point in St. Peterburg takes way longer than the 30 minutes I'd planned on so we get there about ten minutes before boat launch. The parking for cars without boats is already full .. so after much 'almost' heated discussion with G we park in a "car with boat-tow" slot. My thoughts were .. it's almost dark and there really aren't going to be any more cars showing up with boats to put in. So, we parked.

Anyway..we get assigned kayaks and before I can barely hand over my backpack to the sponser they're handing me oars and a life vest and they're sizing me up for a kayak. Damn, these things are LONG !! You're sitting practically in the water in one of these things. In an unfortunate choice of clothing I was a dumbass and wore jeans not thinking that if I get soaking wet I'm going to be wet for a very long time. (even though there will be a fire)

We were told the kayak trip would be from the bay point across in the intercoastal waterway to a barrier key to watch the sunset. What ended up happening, is we rowed less than a mile down the intercoastal waterway to a key IN THE MIDDLE of the intercoastal waterway. We didn't have a clear view of the gulf like we all thought. G and I were rather bummed. I would have much rather rowed the extra time to get out to a real key. But, unfortunately from where we launched the boats that would have been more than a 10 miles paddle (ack!)

The food spread was less than lavish. The sangria was in jugs from Gallo and really crappy and there was no fruit. How do you have sangria without fruit!!? They brought out cracker appetizers with a not-so-appetizing looking "fish spread". I had no clue what kind of fish or when it was purchased so I just munched on the crackers. I like fish.. this just looked... fishy. Meh. Normally, I'm not a picky eater but this just really didn't look tasty. Then came the main course: brats and hot dogs. There was only enough for one per person. Fine by me, but it left G wanting more. most guys I know want more than one hot dog and this trip was 70% male. The saving grace was that one of the other kayakers brought s'mores !! yay s'mores !! She happily shared with everyone who wanted them and it made me smile. So, we roasted s'mores as we watched the sun set over the water (well, over the land but it made cool reflections on the water.. see pics)

After dinner the men adjoured to build a "bigger" bonfire. These men were clearly not boy scouts. There was a ton of scrub brush around and they piled up HUGE logs and poured lighter fluid on them.. then wondered why their fire wouldn't stay lit. genius. G and I had a good laugh watching them. It was a very good sociology experiment watching a bunch of men building fire. There were the guys happy to observe, the guy who was MANIACAL about the lighter fluid, and the one guy who clearly had actually BEEN camping who put in scrub brush when the lighter fluid burnt out for the eighth time.

Another exciting venture was the trek to the center of the key (it's very VERY small) to pee. I honestly, could care less if passing boats saw me I just had to pee. Other girls were trying to hold it all night until they got back to plumbing. This led to quite some amusement later on in the evening when one girl.. (way too many sangrias in) started demanding the whole group leave NOW! cuz SHE had to pee... ! Drama queen. The sucky part about peeing on the key was the freaking mosquitos ! I got eaten alive and I peed SO quickly. I've counted over ten bites today in less than 20 seconds of pants downage-time. Fast little fuckers.

Only one couple wiped out on the way out to the island. They had the only kayak for two out of the bunch. the guy running it called it "the divorce kayak". We soon found out why when they both got soaked. G and I paddle out on our own. The interesting part was the row back. On the row out we were fighting the tide and the current and I was constantly having to pull on the left of the kayak to stay straight. My arm muscles (or lack thereof) were very very not happy with me. Must.work.out.more! The row back was in the dark after quite a few glasses of sangria. Even though it was crappy it was the only thing to drink. They put glow sticks on the front and back of my kayak to mark it and shoved us in the water. G and I tried to stay together but he has so much more upper body strength he managed to get ahead. The row back was peaceful and calm, the tide was up, and the rowing was SO much easier. I really enjoyed the quiet row back to the boat dock. G was there to meet me and help me out of the boat. Especially since the guy who took G's oars walked off and left him while G thought he was holding the kayak. So, G capsized on the boat dock and soaked himself totally right before I pulled into the slip. I hadn't realized it at the time but that's why he was extra attentive of me while I was getting out of my kayak. He made sure the same loser didn't pull that crap with me. (thanks honey)

Overall the trip was mildly disappointing, but we did manage to have some fun. I just dont think we'd do the trip again.