Kayaking Freaks

From the Nose of Our Kayak Don & Janet Beasley Chapter 13: Dreams This week Don and I invite you to dream with us, to dream about the places you'd love to experience from the nose of  your  kayak. But be forewarned...once you start dreaming, it's hard to stop!  The sky's the limit when it comes to adventure. Now days, Don and I prefer kayaking the smooth calm waters rather than white water. In our younger years we did a bit of white water rafting and thoroughly enjoyed it. If we would have taken up kayaking in our 20's we would probably have been Eskimo rolling our way down big white water, sailing through class 5+ rapids, going over falls, and spending our days in wet suits while camping and feasting on s'mores. But just because we are approaching retirement age, and like to take life a bit easier these days, that doesn't mean we don't like to dream. Below is a selection of some of our favorite kayaking videos we enjoy watching and dreaming about the pl...

From the Nose of Our Kayak Don & Janet Beasley Chapter 12: "It's Not a Crime to Test Paddle a Yak" One day in May 2011 Don and I decided to do something off the cuff. We had been hearing about fiberglass kayaks and wanted to see (and feel) the difference for ourselves. So it was off to the gulf coast of Florida we went.  We decided to make it a day trip and enjoy our time seeing sights we don't normally see both to and from our destination. We love taking the back roads and getting "lost" in the moment of some of the most scenic roads on the planet. We arrived and were elated to find 2 fiberglass kayaks we could test paddle. We can't describe the excitement we had doing a lot of "firsts" on this trip. Our first first was entering a kayak from a dock. We had always entered at the edge of the water, so learning the entry from a dock was really quite cool!  The best way to describe a couple of kayak entry methods, including a dock entry, is to...

From the Nose of Our Kayak Don & Janet Beasley Chapter 11: Kayaking & Dining & History Kayaking amidst the serenity of nature is truly our favorite, but sometimes we like to kayak over history to dinner! In our "backyard" you'll find Little Lake Harris.  The launching sight is about a mile from our house. Little Lake Harris  is a beautiful body of fresh water in the central Florida area that is chock full of alligators, birds, and turtles, and dotted around its pristine shores are a few restaurants. It also offers up some of the best sunsets around.    Little Lake Harris stems from (the much bigger) Lake Harris which spans east and west from State Route 19 all the way over to the Leesburg, Florida area of State Route 27.  The two lakes are divided by a long causeway/bridge on State Route 19 that dead ends into the magnificent Mission Inn.   In the heat of summer here in Florida you can't always get out to kayak dur...

From the Nose of Our Kayak Don & Janet Beasley Chapter 10: Canoe vs. Kayak Being December in Florida brings some of the most beautiful weather in the nation. Nice cool, comfortable temperatures mixed with plenty of sunshine and bright blue skies. December, like November, is a continuation of an autumn feel in the air.  Believe it or not, we dashed back to Rock Springs Run for one more run in 2010, and our visiting went family with us. At the time we didn't have but only one tandem kayak at the house in Florida, that being the Wilderness Systems T145 "Mean Greenie" as we like to call it. That meant we needed to rent a vessel for our guests. The rental house didn't have any kayaks available at the time, so our company decided it was fine with them to tackle the river in a canoe.  Even though a canoe and a kayak are similar, you'll find some differences. For starters each one has its own "look" about it. A canoe has an open bow and aft, meaning the fron...

From the Nose of Our Kayak Don & Janet Beasley Chapter  9  Back Down Rock Springs We Go...This Time to Check Out the Scenery Don at the end of the Rock Springs Run Wekiva Island pick-up destination As we mentioned in our last chapter, we would be back to kayak the Rock Springs Run. And here we are, only a few weeks later. This trip happened on November 18, 2010. You may be surprised that we get the beautiful colors of autumn here in Florida, but depending on your location and how the weather has played out, you could very well find yourself in a wilderness of all of the fall colors you long for...yes, in Florida! We launched our Wilderness Systems kayak early morning, and decided to take our time now that we knew how long it actually takes to get to the pick-up point (Don and I have done the run in as fast as 2 hours...but that was paddling for exercise, not scenery).  Before we even exited the canal onto the river, the fall leaves were showing themselves, danci...