To be honest, it was not all that easy to get myself out of a warm bed and into a kayak at the crack of dawn. But I went through the ritual of getting my dry suit on and launched in cold pouring rain at the Kenmore launch on Lake Washington. I started up the slough but there was more current than I was willing to deal with so I headed out onto the lake. Still trying to convince myself that this was the right thing to do, I just sat and drifted out in the middle of the bay for a bit, and that's when I saw a small ripple in the otherwise calm flatness of the water. Probably a fish. Maybe I should have thrown a pole onto the deck. But imagine my surprise when a seal surfaced just a few feet away! At first I was afraid it would try and climb on my deck and possibly tip my Greenland kayak over. I was very aware at that moment of my 20.5 inch beam. He (she?) would surface all around me, sometime bumping the bow of the boat with his nose, and sometimes following behind me. I was trying to figure out the connection and I guess it was that we had a mutual curiosity. Or maybe he was looking for a handout. Or maybe he was thanking me for using nylon to skin my boat instead of relatives :) Unfortunately I only had my old cell phone in an old plastic phone dry case to take pictures with, so the photos are extremely low quality. After paddling around in circles for an hour we both went our own way. As I was fighting a 3 knot current to get back up to the launch a jet ski was going out. There didn't seem to be any mutual curiosity there, and I was sure that he wouldn't have the opportunity to play with a seal. http://picasaweb.google.com/kayakster/Nature#5408496081969662290 http://picasaweb.google.com/kayakster/Nature#5408496148575786738 http://picasaweb.google.com/kayakster/Nature#5408496200959428690 Paul Montgomery paul_at_paddleandoar.com http://paddleandoar.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Nov 30 2009 - 18:02:15 PST
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