BRAVING THE OCEAN

So, the point of living away from home is to do things I've never had the chance to do before, right? Well, my activities (mostly shopping and tanning) were getting to feel a little stagnant, so last week I decided I should do something about that. I didn't drive across the entire North American continent to spend my time (or at least not ALL of it) cruising Bath and Bodyworks stores and frying my skin by the apartment pool.

Activity #1: Kayaking
Location: Half Moon Bay
Temperature of Water: Nipply-cold
Enjoyment Factor: Awesome

likelihood I'll attempt it again: 100%

We signed up for a BSK (Beginner Sea Kayak) class in Half Moon Bay. It was an 8 hour course designed to teach us how to paddle, turn and generally keep from killing ourselves in the ocean. Fortunately, they teach the class in the protected waters of the harbor, so the likelihood of being swamped by a giant wave and drowning are minimal at this point. Now, I've canoed before, and though I'm not the best at steering the thing (but definitely better than Justin, who took us down some rapids SIDEWAYS), I'm a pretty decent paddler. And I like canoeing, but I'm hooked on kayaking. I love the fact that I can control the entire boat pretty easily and even learned how to rescue myself, should I manage to tip the boat during my escapades.

The most entertaining part of the day was surely when Kendrah was practicing her own self-rescue. There was a playful seal lying on one of the docks nearby and when he saw Kendrah go into the water he decided she'd make a good playmate. He kept getting closer and closer...it was all she could do to not scream like a scared little girl!

Activity #2: Surfing
Location: Santa Cruz
Temperature of Water: Chilly but tolerable
Enjoyment Factor: Wow!

likelihood I'll attempt it again: 100%

Michaela (another RN I work with) took me to Santa Cruz for my first surfing attempt, on a sunny Friday morning. Talk about intimidating: I was surrounded by a large group of surfers, many with those cool Aussie accents. I thought they'd all be stellar and it'd look just like the movies, and I'd be more the fool on my first attempt. Hmmm.....assumptions that shouldn't be made.....

Let's just say not everyone was quite as good as I first imagined

I wasn't anything pretty to look at, but I managed to get up about 50% of the time. And with each successful attempt, I'd throw my arms in the air and start shouting with excitement. Guess what that does to your balance?

LOL, but at least it didn't hurt when I fell.

**pictures to follow, but they were on a waterproof camera, so I'm working on getting them onto the computer