Kayak the river
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My middle son flew in (on a plane) to visit his brothers and me in Florida. As it was just me and the three boys (#testosterone), it fell to reason we’d want to do something both athletic and outdoorsy. Kayaking on a river seemed like a good fit.
I’ve kayaked lots of times - during the summer, at the lake. We have a little trek we take whenever the whim hits us. We go up a narrow river - against current - until we hit a small rapids (turn around time) and head back - with the current. It’s a course encompasses about a mile and a half.
The Florida river website (I thought) offered two courses. One was 4.7 miles, the other 2.5. Gosh did the 2.5 sound doable. More than I was used to, but I’m tough, and I enjoy pushing myself from time to time. Besides, my boys would be watching.
We arrived at the kayak rental place and were offered just one route: the 4.7 mile one. Apparently the 2.5 mile rookie route was no longer available, or maybe I just imagined it.
I attempted the math inside my head. It goes without saying 4.7 is a lot more than 2.5. I gulped and didn’t say a word as we paid our kayak rental fees. I was with my boys. And much like when they tricked me into the upside down scary rollercoaster at Disney, I wasn’t going to back out.
En route to the river, our van driver described the excursion, and let it slip that the trip was actually closer to 5 miles versus the advertised 4.7. We’d been awarded a bonus .3 miles! I cringed.
We got to the river and set out on the 4.7 (or quite possibly 5) mile trek.
Five miles! And they hadn’t even offered us a fail-safe option for bailout should that option be needed.
“Ladies and gentlemen, if you can’t make the whole trip, and are in danger of kayak failure, pull over to the side of the river and call the number on your wristband. We will send an air-conditioned river van to pick your party up ASAP.”
There was none of that.
It was just me, my kayak, the paddle and the 4.7 (or let’s just be honest and call it 5) miles of endless river.
The experts at the kayak shop told us the trip would take three or four hours. Half an hour in I was feeling the strain just a bit in my arms, and the kayak seat was, let’s say, less than comfortable.
I wasn’t tired - yet, but I wondered just when that would happen.
And then I saw a diving bird. It disappeared under the crystal clear water and swam underneath the boat. Pretty cool.
A bit further downstream, turtles sunned themselves on a river rock. All along the route, trees grew from within the river itself. Their bark looked like driftwood and their leaves hung heavy with gray moss.
But the highlight came about three-quarters in when we saw critters we weren’t expecting (hoping, but not expecting.)
And it wasn’t alligators.
It was a family of otters. They were swimming and playing like only a family of otters can. They popped their heads up from the water and stared. We watched them and they watched us.
My son described them best when he said they looked like a batch of river puppies.
It was, in a word, very, very cool. Worth the trip, actually.
We could have watched the otters all day, but there was the rest of the river to conquer. So, we paddled on and (I’m proud to say) finished the 4.7 (probably 5) mile route without calling it quits. We didn’t even think of calling it quits.
The tour guides said we’d do the trip in three or four hours. It took us less than two. Along the way we saw otters (exclamation point). And why boys saw me (effortlessly) pull off the 4.7/5 miles.
It was a good day.
Jill Pertler is an award-winning syndicated columnist, published playwright and author. Don’t miss a slice; follow the Slices of Life page on Facebook.
