Out on the wattah……
Got back out on the water this am in the kayaks, after a couple-week break. Ever since we got back from BC (see earlier post re Tofino) we have been very interested in kayaking. So we got a couple used ones on CL not long after, and have since gone three times locally. Each day we learn something new – mostly in and around loading/unloading and storage, but eventually we will know how to KAYAK correctly too :).
The first jaunt was on Lake Union several weeks ago – we got in the water at the south end of the lake by the Wooden Boat Center – there is a small park and rocky beach where you can launch. We paddled up the east side of Lake Union almost to where it enters ‘The Cut’ – and then paddled back.
Then, we went to Mercer Slough (barely south of Bellevue) a week or so later. We got in the water literally under I-90 at Entiak Beach, and paddled around the bend into the Slough. We went everywhere arond in there you can go, saw a lot of wildlife – otters, ducks, big turtles, geese and some other unknown birds (I think one was a kingfisher as it kept diving into the water, seeming fishing) – very cool!
Today, we launched at Magnuson Park in NE Seattle. We paddled south from there around to the east side of the cut, right by SR-520 (which was apparently closed today, there were no cars on it) and saw a big rowing crew race going on in Union Bay there, just east of Husky Stadium. We turned back after mucking around a bit there and headed back up to MP.
I think this was the most challenging of the three local paddles we’ve done so far, probably the longest distance. It was about 4 miles each direction. There was a bit more current and breeze to battle out there today vs. in Mercer Slough (very quiet water there) and while Lake Union definitely has some chop, we simply didn’t go that far that first day.
But hoping the weather holds up for at least one more weekend attempt to kayak before starting to get really cold out there – the guide back up in Tofino said winter kayaking is among the best because far less people (we only saw one other today, when we were almost back to MP, she was going south) and more wildlife around. Today’s journey was far less on the wildlife, unless you count rich people’s houses along the shore of Lake Washington (Windemere and Viewridge neighborhoods) as ‘wild’ – they sure were big with obviously expensive boats mostly in drydock – we missed the blow-by-blow from Robin Leach. Hopefully we can include some friends on the next one.
candybowl