Aha! I was good and brought my old point-and-shoot digital camera with us on our kayak trip this weekend (on the salty ocean kayak, no less - it's old, so I wasn't really worried about it - but I missed my good camera!).
Here's a little rundown of our overnight kayak-to-the-campsite adventure:
The couple we went with - Mike and Kelly - picked us up bright and early, and we drove out to Deep Cove and had a yummy breakfast before packing out gear into our 3 kayaks (we had one double and two singles for four of us). We were really surprised by how much gear you can tuck away into those things!
Mister husband packing, while wearing both of our hats.
After we packed we put our gear on, learned how to control the rudder, and Kelly and I hopped into the double kayak, leaving the boys on their own. I had to steer the thing, which was pretty funny - lol. I kept getting my pedals reverse!
We meandered across the cove for about two hours, paddling, until we got to Twin Island (we forgot to check the map before we left, so it was a bit of a guessing game, but we found it!). We were going to keep paddling for a bit, but our rudder broke (gah!), and with all the gear in there it was hard for us girls to steer with our paddles. We pulled up to the dock and unloaded everything, and the boys had to carry the boats all the way up the steep low-tide dock!
The island is super-small, with a campsite on it that was empty when we arrived, so we scored this awesome ocean-view site and set up camp. Well - sort of - we used the wooden platform as a hang-out spot, and we brought 4 hammocks (they're smaller and lighter than tents!) that we hung in the trees just up the hill.
Our shady but lovely campsite/hang-out spot.
We spent the rest of the afternoon noshing on lunch, going for a dip in the cold cold ocean (we had the nicest weather!), playing Uno, taking the boats out again for a spin before sundown (complete with boys carrying them back down to the dock), and then getting back in time to cook supper and hang the hammocks up. We all sat around until it got darker and chillier, watching the stars. We couldn't have a fire there, but we had candles to keep it cute. :)
They were new to hammocks, so it was fun trying them out and getting layered up and figuring out who got to sleep in the two fancy hammocks - he he. We all slept pretty well, but woke up to our hotdogs having been eaten by one happy raccoon! lol.
We had to have the boats back by 11 am on sunday, so we woke up early, made coffee and breakfast, packed up, and then off we went!
The boys had to do this so many times!
Some shots from the road:
It was just gorgeous!
The only hitch was that my arms are still aching from paddling - lol. I had a big old nap when we got home, after all that work - oh, and the boys forgot to pack my bag of toiletries, which means I had no ammenities (think toothbrush, deoderant, make up, etc.) so I had to sleep in my contacts - ugh!
It was such a fun time!
Have you kayaked before? Kayak-camped? I highly suggest it!
Let me know if you have any questions. :)
I should mention that it was my first real time actually kayaking on the ocean with a purpose - we kayaked in Maui, but in those plastic shallow kayaks you sit on top of, and we didn't go very far but to turtle-search.
