Re: [Paddlewise] Looking back

Living practically on the Hudson, we haven't really had to go out of our
way to paddle in places that we've been.  But we always find that it
changes our perspective on the places.  Especially for me, because I
don't have a very good sense of direction, but when I've paddled
someplace, I suddenly see the relationship of that place to other places,
and it starts to come together in ways I hadn't even known that I was
missing.

If I could go back to someplace I've been and paddle there, it would be
Hawaii.  The color of the water, the coral reefs, the colorful fish - not
to mention the breathtaking scenery - make it a must.  I We only visited
Maui and the Big Island - I understand that Kuaui and Lanai are even more
beautiful.  n fact, I hope to do that someday., although it wouldn't be
possible to bring our Romanys, so we'd have to figure something out. 
(Ralph, do you know if it's possible to rent folding kayaks for an
extended period of time?  I don't think we could even consider that trip
if we had to buy two mor kayaks.  And I don't know about rentals there,
especially travelling from island to island.

Joan 

On Sat, 05 Feb 2000 15:57:14 -0800 ralph diaz <rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com>
writes:
> Having come to sea kayaking later in life (age 48 or 49), I often look
> back to places that I had been to in pre-paddling days and tried to
> image what it would be like to kayak in them.  The thought came up
> recently when I replied to a post from our Argentine PaddleWiser,
> Fernando López Arbarello, and I mentioned wanting to paddle portions 
> of
> the Chilean coast, the Rio de la Plata near Buenos Aires as well as
> Cuba, places I had been to in pre-kayaking days.
> 
> I know a number of PaddleWisers are in the same boat, i.e. having
> started paddling when older.  If you could re-visit some of your
> pre-paddling haunts again, only this time with a kayak, which would 
> they
> be and why?
> 
> I know the very first thing I did when I started sea kayaking was to 
> go
> to _nearby places_ I had experienced only from the land.  One were 
> the
> lakes in Bear Mt-Harriman State Park not far from NYC.  For decades 
> my
> wife and I had hiked the many trails in the area.  The closest we 
> got to
> the water was skinny-dipping on a particularly hot day in what we
> thought was a secluded spot...it wasn't!  On getting a kayak our
> first paddle was on one of the lakes, clothed of course! (we have a
> local club called the Paddling Bares, which I have never had the 
> nerve
> to join; maybe some one here has :-)).
> 
> The next was on the Hudson.  One particular spot was that little 
> island
> I could see while hiking high on Breakneck Ridge, which overlooks the
> Hudson just a bit north of West Point.  It was Bannermann Island.  My
> wife and I learned a lot on that early paddling trip, mainly how wind
> can stop you cold.  I remember paddling against the wind and seeing 
> that
> we were parallel to the same little tree for what seemed hours.  
> Luckily
> we were in a folding kayak and were able to land at the closest RR
> station and not have to exhaust ourselves fighting the wind all the 
> way
> back to our original put-in; I don't think we could have anyway.
> 
> My third paddle took me to the waters of Long Island Sound.  As a 
> boy I
> had worked many summers on Orchard Beach (in the northern Bronx) 
> selling
> refreshments on the beach or being part of the beach cleanup crew.  I
> could see small and large islands out in the Sound, too far to swim 
> to
> and longed to know what it would be like to visit them by boat.  
> Natch,
> we kayaked out to them the first chance we got.
> 
> I wonder how many of you did something similar the first moment you 
> got
> your hands on a kayak?  And, again, looking back to faraway places 
> you
> knew in pre-paddling days, which would you like to go back to with a
> kayak?  
> 
> ralph diaz  
> 
> 
> -- 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter
> PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024
> Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
> "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag."
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
>
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