So how has the weekend been so for? Funny you should ask! It's certainly been an adventure. Friday afternoon, Brenda called to advise that Bernie and Caitlyn wouldn't be home till late so I dropped over for nachos and beer. What better way to finish off a busy week!
Saturday was pretty uneventful - I worked in the morning, picked up a few things at the grocery store on my way home and then went to the Rec Centre to help out with a wedding. Brenda called me after she got home and found out that Bernie and the boys were going biking on Sunday morning so we were free to do something together as well. We decided on kayaking. We didn't want to take the risk of going on our bikes and having something happen that might impact their departure for Holland on Thursday. A broken bone or worse, might not be a good thing so we weren't going to take any chances.
Sunday morning she came over around 10:00 and we headed over to Mount Stewart. There's a little road the goes up past the old rail way bridge and there's a boat launch area there. Perfect! So we unloaded our stuff, and then moved the truck out of the way. We headed up stream and it was a beautiful day. We came upon a fellow that Brenda knows who was in a boat, emptying some sort of traps. We thought it might be fish so we paddled over to investigate. Turns out he fishes eels. They aren't used here very much these days, and he was telling us these ones get packed and shipped to England. They were quite large and he was telling me that the minimum size is 21" long. Anything shorter and they have to go back into the water. By the third trap he had 43 in the hold that were big enough to keep and he has 12 traps out there on that part of the river. Who knew the water in the Hillsborough was teeming with eels! Glad I don't swim in THAT water! But it was interesting to see how they catch them and get them into the hold. They were very large and slippery so it's a lot of work to deal with them. I had some great pictures but...you're getting this one from online, instead.
From there we paddled further up stream till we couldn't go any further. On our way we saw some Bald Eagles perched on the tops of trees. One of them even took off and flew back and forth and all around in front of us before once again alighting on a tree top. It was almost like it was putting on a little show for us. As we got back to the boat launch, we were not very far from the railway bridge, and there's a narrow opening underneath it so when the tide is coming in or out, the water really rushed through there because it's so narrow. We paddled over to take a closer look and get some pictures. This is where it got really interesting.
There are no rocks, just some swirling water so we thought we could point our boats into the water and enjoy the ride. Fortunately we didn't go together. I just got into it when water came rushing up over the right side and into my boat. Before I had a chance to counter balance a rush of water came up on the left side and with the water still sloshing inside, it was enough to overturn my kayak. Because of the large opening in our kayaks, I just fell right out so that wasn't an issue, but of course I was down under the water and not able to reach the bottom. Did I mention that I can't actually swim and that I'm actually somewhat afraid of the water??? Fortunately I WAS wearing my life jacket, something I would never be without when out on the water. There was a moment of panic on my part, but then I thought, no, if I just stay calm, the life jacket will do what it's meant to, and it did. I decided to just let it bring me to the surface and the rushing water would push me further upstream to calmer water. This is exactly what happened and with paddling my arms, I was able to get close to shore to a place where I could actually stand up. I was very proud of myself for not panicking too much. By then Brenda had paddled over to where I was. I still had my paddle in my hands and I could see my kayak, still overturned downstream. But the water was slowly pushing it towards me and eventually I could reach it.
Now we have a bit of a problem - we're on the opposite side of the river to the truck and my boat is upside down and full of water. What to do? So we discussed the situation and decided that I could hold on to the handle at the back of Brenda's boat with my left hand, and hold the handle on the front of my boat with my right hand. We put my paddle in her boat and she started paddling, towing me and my kayak behind her. I kicked my legs as much as possible in order to try to help with the momentum a bit. I don't know if it really helped or not, but I felt like I was at least doing something useful as I was towed across. Thanks to her, she got us both back to the other shore.
The really funny part was, there was a fellow just launching his motor boat as we were half way across. We thought perhaps he might be coming out to help us. Turns out that wasn't the case. In fact, once we got to the shore, he had anchored his boat, which was in the water, but he couldn't reach the rope that was attached to it and he asked Brenda, who was towing me and my upside down boat, if she could reach the rope for him as he didn't have his long boots and didn't want to step into the water. Obviously we must have looked like we had the situation totally under control.
Once I could stand on the bottom, we got the boats in to shore, and used a water bottle to bail the water out of mine, since it doesn't pour out of a kayak too well. That's when it dawned on me that my small backpack was also in the boat, and of course was long gone. Unfortunately inside was my cell phone, my camera, my change purse (with $40.00, 2 debit cards and 2 credit cards) and my glasses!
But I guess in reality it's all just stuff that easily replaced - and I didn't drown. I was ever so glad of that because I would have really hated to see Brenda miss her trip because she had to stay for my funeral!! We can laugh about it now but for a couple of minutes it was a little scary.
I have to admit I was a little unsettled for the rest of the afternoon and I think Brenda was probably the same. She had company at home and had to go and entertain them but she called me at 9:00 to make sure I was okay - it had been quite an experience for both of us but it turned out okay in the end!
Just goes to prove - don't fool with Mother Nature!
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