Sitka is also a temperate rain forest, receiving 90 inches of rain annually. The change agent is wind. Our kayaking guide was from Maryland and is 24 years old. Typical of other Alaskans we have met, he holds at least three jobs! Alaskans are Northern Jamaicans! I don't know why I thought sea kayaking would be a good idea. Tom and I tried canoeing together once, and it ended with me crossing my arms and sitting in the bow of the boat after tiring of having Tom alternate and overpower my strokes. We looked like a drunken snake on the water. Apparently I had some vision that being in a two person kayak in the sea would be easier?
The Kayak tour guides complimented us on our gear and said Cruise West people are always properly prepared. We wore our rain gear, as had been suggested.
We had a brief safety speech which immediately set off bells and whistles for me. First, getting in the darned thing requires a contortionist. You have to balance on the back of the seat, extend your legs and then lift your butt over the seat back while at the same time keeping the spray skirt clear, and slide in. Don't bend your knees or you will be left with a knee to your chest and no way to free yourself. Eventually heavy equipment will arrive and between that and a tub of butter, will pop you out.
But I digress. The safety briefing magnified my anxiety. You are instructed to pull the skirt taut around the lips of the kayak around you. If you capsize, the guide told us, pull the web handle at the front of the skirt. Okay, I can do this! But then he adds, "... and if that doesn't work..." WHAT?? What do you mean "if that doesn't work?!" If I am abruptly flipped into icy water I want to know that my life saving maneuver will work! So the guide continues, "if the handle pull doesn't free you, grasp the skirt with both hands and pull up." But wait! As Ron Popeil says: there's more! If that doesn't work, and you are by this time upside down in the water, push yourself out and the difference of your weight in the water will pop you free. After all that and the guide, David, had the balls to add "don't panic." To which I say, "not very likely!"
One funny moment occurred when David was adjusting Tom's spray skirt and Tom said "I can't say I've ever had a man look under my skirt before!" That was to be the last time I laughed for the next several hours of my life.
So, off we went into the water and I was immediately terrified. I absolutely hated the feeling of being secured to a vessel that could flip over. The skirt also made it impossible to twist around and see what your partner, or anyone else, was doing. I could only look forward. And forward of me was nothing but water. I didn't like it one bit. I started out advising Tom of rocks and ships and such but each time he said, "I know, I see it" and ultimately I gave up and decided to allow him to guide us to certain death.
Shortly after we began, an older couple began to struggle and the man lost his pedals for the rudder so David towed hem for the remainder of the trip. That meant that for the entire trip, they were far behind and we did not have the benefit of hearing the narrative. It also meant his statement that if the other safety mechanisms didn't work he would be near enough to see we were in trouble was a flat out lie. That was extremely worrisome to me. I like to know where we are going, where we are supposed to be. Is being out here in this open channel with a large boat approaching a good thing?
Tom was having his own struggles with rudder pedals out of sync. He claims now that he was not intentionally torturing me. Shortly after shoving off, he saw a sea lion and when he mentioned it later, I thought it was sitting on a rock. He said it was big as a black bear and he didn't point it out for fearing of frightening me. That was probably a good decision, as I was in DefComIII at that moment. However, when he later clarified that it was in the water and had popped its head up for a look-see, I was very glad he hadn't told me!
I was sure I was going to die, sure we would roll over and be trapped and no one would know. And I especially did not like that Tom and I repeatedly ended up way out in open water, away from the others, who were hugging the shore. I wanted to be with them!! Tom told me we were being swept out to sea. Every time I saw a boat approaching the fright would rise up in me again.
I think it would have been pleasant if the guide would have been with us, or if Tom ever steered us to the shoreline. As it was, I was never sure if we were in a safe place. With each stroke I said "I hate this, I hate this" and my only goal was to survive. What I hated was the absolute loss of control. I couldn't steer and I didn't know if where we were was a good place and I didn't know where we were going. On the way back, I repeatedly asked where we were going, what to aim toward as a goal. Tom was frustrated and said "the same way we came." The problem was that on the way out I was so single mindedly focused on Point A to Point B that I didn't have a big picture of what "the same way " was.
I did relax a little on the way back and we floated awhile as we drank our water and at the cookies they provided. I also took a few photos, including the traditional "front of kayak" view. I even enjoyed the wake. A little.
That ended with having to race the boats across the channel. The time of day our sea kayaking tour was had scheduled was badly timed for the return of the fishing vessels.
In hindsight, I would be willing to try a single kayak in the future. Just not in a shipping lane in the ocean!
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