Kayaking In Costa Rica (part 2)
After a simple meal that consisted of grilled fish, succulent tiger prawns and ripe mangoes and cream for dessert, we moved on to the boat and naturally, we chose the tandem kayak and had Marty set the whole thing up. We made our way down the tip of the Nicoya Peninsula (which wasn’t really that far). The view was just thrilling! Also, and I don’t mean to be so melodramatic about it but, the crashing waves coupled with clear skies and balmy wind was just… perfect!
So we met Marty’s people already awaiting us by the shore with the kayaks and paddles in tow. One thing you should learn folks, kayaking is a pretty simple sport. Bottom line is, the essential skill needed is the uncanny ability to sit down and paddle like a mofo, that’s about it. You should also know that most boats today are made to be stable to lower the risk of capsizing. Now, that doesn’t guarantee that you’ll breeze right through the whole expedition because that’s just bull however, by observing the proper protocol, being cautious and with the initiative to carry a spare paddle then you’ll probably not gonna end up as fish food.
Now, we were geared up and ready to go, I sat in front of the boat while Rodrigo, rather timidly, sat behind me. We checked out everything from protective gears right down to our own waterproof bags. Head gear, check, safety belts, check, spare paddles, check, ropes (just in case), check, first aid kits, check. Can’t make it any more clearer than that, safety is everything in this sport and don’t y’all forget how essential first aid kits in this kind of sport because who knows just what might happen.
We paddled through the calm water and from we can clearly hear the roaring water ahead of us. Marty went ahead of us and we paddled hard to keep up with them. Then there was a sharp turn and the rockier part of the peninsula now appeared. Massive boulders against crashing waves, it was quite intimidating and I could hear Rodrigo swear under his breath a couple of time. Paddling harder, we neared the part where the water headed for the rocky whirlpool and whoosh! We we sucked on the path where the waves meets the boulders and man, I could feel the waves pounding on the boat! It was awesome! Everything happened so fast though. I kept screaming to Rodrigo to paddle faster, watch out for that huge ass rock and tried our damnedest to navigate though the watery channels of the peninsula.
There were horrifying moments were where I thought we were gonna capsize. Too many sharp damn turns but thankfully we managed to manuever though the rocky channel. The calm water that followed gave us (especially Rodrigo) a welcome sense of relief but I didn’t feel exhausted at all! At least not after the first trek. The funny thing was, if you look at the channel from where we just went though, it does not look that far off, I mean I thought we could cross the damn channel in fifteen minutes tops but hell, it’s been a long time since I went kayaking, it seems because it almost took us a quarter of an hour! But we did it, we crossed the damn channel in one piece! The natural high that you get from extreme sports like this one is just… awesome! Of course, we weren’t done. We signed up for a three fucking kayak treks after all and this is just a small taste of things to come! So, the first trek was done and we paddled down to Marty’s place for some much needed break from our aching shoulders. Man, my back is killing me!
