Another Great Day at the Beach!

This Saturday we chose to exercise our upper bodies with a nice Kayak trip.

Davenport Landing is a short distance north of Santa Cruz off Highway 1.  A nice sandy shore surrounded by rocky cliffs. Since this area is not in the bay, the open water is a little rougher in my opinion. The weather was cool with a light breeze and pretty foggy. We had hoped for the fog to burn off but it just did not happen. There were plenty of surfers enjoying the waves and a few happy dogs running on the shore and into the water as well. 

My husband and I use ocean kayaks, the sit on top type, and haven't gotten wet suits yet.

Since we had to push off from the shore I fully anticipated getting a little wet, but in actuality I got drenched.

I waited for a relatively calm spot to try and launch and with a push from my husband made it into the water staring directly into a large breaking wave. Whoosh! Wet!, followed by yet another one. Oh, well. It's only water. Much to my surprise my windbreaker kept the water from soaking my skin.

The effort was worth it though as I paddled out to see whales! Yes, whales. They were beautiful, just skimming the water shooting water and air from their blow holes and twisting and turning. They were so very close and exciting to watch.  There were at least 3 of them by my count and we watched them for at least 20 minutes or more before they continued on north. There was a kayak group out there as well and we heard their guide say that the whales like to rest in that area, rub on the sand and play a little before continuing their journey north.

That was our only sighting on Saturday. We paddled for a while and headed back to shore. I think my husband was worried that I would tip if I got caught in a wave and he volunteered to go first to help me if I needed it. But, I felt brave and went first. It was a blast! I caught a wave and was literally lifted to shored. What fun. We had surf kayaked before and this was the closest I came to that since that adventure.

Safe to shore we carried our kayaks back to the truck and headed home. It was such a great Saturday with lots of surprises.

I hope to get back on my bike soon and take a long ride. But for the remainder of this week it will be my usual routine of walk/run and my fantastic yoga class on Thursday.  Hope to write again next week.