kayaking in the harbor

Sorry it has taken so long to post these photos from last weekend; rain-induced inertia is at work. It has been raining almost non-stop this week; a cold, steady November-type of rain. Last Saturday the weather was great for kayaking in the Otago harbor - sunny, crisp and not too windy. We borrowed a friend's double kayak and had some fun.

The double is kind of huge. Dan thinks we should really try two singles which would help us maneuver better; maybe next time. I needed the extra coaching from Dan since I hadn't done this in a while.

We started about halfway along the peninsula in Macandrew Bay. This part of the harbor is very shallow. On the far side of the harbor is a deeper channel for the large ships to come into the city.

The sun is in the northern sky and look how low it is (I think it was about 2pm when we started on the water).

This was Dan with Robbie, our friend's son. He saw us loading up the kayak and assumed he was going for a ride. Dan took him for a quick turn around the bay.

Dan & Robbie again. Macandrew Bay is a very nice area with lots of sun and a small population - everyone knows everyone. When we talk about how nice it seems to people in Dunedin city center, everyone says, "but it's such a long commute"....it's about a 10 minute drive.

We didn't see any big sea creatures on this adventure although if we went further out along the harbor (closer to the open ocean) we probably would have seen some seals or sea lions. We turned around once the water got a bit choppier, and my arms felt like they were about to fall off. And let's be honest, who wants a sea lion bumping up on their kayak?