Video: Vandreaming

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Vanilla heard it clearly: it was the sound of his hull scraping on rock.
Now that his new kayak was finally baptized extreme care would no longer be necessary.
The lure of the gentle swell over the rocks was too great and, as if hearing a mermaid's song, we were drawn to it.
There was absolutely no need to paddle so close to those oyster and barnacle encrusted shores but the thrill of feeling the slowly pulsating water push our kayaks up to then suddenly drop away exposing the rock below, was measurable.


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This time the gentle wind and the calm ocean swell allowed us to explore a few tight spots that we missed on previous visits to these shores.
Food and water for a week and no scheduled itinerary is how we like to kayak. The mileage is irrelevant when there is so much to explore at close quarters in these tropical waters.
I was back in my old "big girl", a kayak that these days I only use for longer trips; when I thought I should spend more time with her. While maybe not as hard tracking and fast as some of my other kayaks, it was a refreshing feeling to be able to maneuver more nimbly around the rocks. A wider beam allows me to edge and release bow and stern for easier turning: I was able to avoid a few rocks...
We were too early in the season to encounter whales but saw a few large tunas leap out of the water.
Vanilla optimistically brought a hand line for fishing, with little success, given that he only tried once.
A realist, I carried dehydrated home-made meals that made fine dinners: just add water (and a bit of heat).
Being a team of just two allowed us much more flexible planning (read: none) and the days' destinations were simply shaped by the direction of the wind: if possible, we chose downwind.
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