a kayak experience. my favorite day of vacation.

I can’t believe it’s been weeks since we returned from the beach.

Will I never cease being amazed/disappointed/confounded by the rapid passage of time?

(I’m confident the only answer to that question is no!)

It was such an active trip and by active I mean – we did stuff we have never been able to do on vacations before.  Biking, for one.

And for another – kayaking.

I really love kayaking.

But as a family of eight with young children, it was an event that seemed mostly out of our reach.

First – because not everyone could paddle by themselves.  Second – because renting anything adds up quickly times eight.

Fast forward a few years and suddenly here we are – with more strong arms than weak ones.

We were able to get an incredibly great deal on our lodging so we decided we could splurge on one major activity.

We were in the Beaufort area so I did a few searches.  My options ranged from dolphin cruises to aquarium visits to deep sea fishing excursions.  But when I saw kayak tours – I was drawn in immediately.

I e-mailed one company and heard nothing back.

And then I e-mailed Beaufort Kayak Tours.

The response was speedy and the answer to my loaded question, “Can we bring kids and can they handle it and can we afford it?” was a resounding, “Of course!”

We arranged details through e-mail and everything was set up effortlessly and as I told the kids about it  I realized that I was already predisposed to believe the day spent kayaking would be my favorite day of our entire vacation.

The weather forecast was threatening to storm and I was afraid my hopes would be dashed.  (High expectations have gotten me in trouble more times than I would care to admit.)

But the day dawned warm and mostly clear.

We met our guides, Kim and David, at Hunting Island State Park where they were ready and waiting for us.

They walked us through some guidelines and the basic plan for the morning – which was to paddle through the lagoon to a stopping point at the ocean’s entrance.  Then to take a short break at the beach before allowing the current to help us paddle back through the lagoon to our starting point.

All in all, we were to paddle all morning – about four and a half miles.

Mosely and London headed out in their own kayaks and the rest of us paired up – Kevin and Piper Finn, Riley and Hawkeye and me and Otto.

It was magical.

Peaceful.  A memory I was living.  It was hard work but it was fun work and gliding across the water, listening for Otto to point out egrets and jumping fish, was incredible.

I probably never stopped smiling.

I could hardly stand the sweetness of it all.

All seven of my beloveds, floating along together, doing one activity at the same moment in time, was just a perfect morning to me.

We stopped along the edge to stare at the hordes of oysters and see them spit out water so they can close themselves tightly in the sludge.

At one stop we found blue legged crabs, giant shrimp and a genuine whelk eating a mollusk.  A whelk eating a mollusk before our very eyes!  It was as if Kim and David had looked into our science curriculum from this year and decided to cover chapters 5, 8 and 12.  I was pretty thrilled to hear Bergen answer their questions about sea life with clarity and knowledge.

When we reached the turn around point we all crawled out of the kayaks and wandered along the beach for a little break.  We learned a lesson in shifting sands and visited the bizarre spooky/cool boneyard beach at Hunting Island.

The paddle home was a little easier and my tiny partner was as chatty and engaged as ever.

I don’t think anyone wanted to get out of the kayaks, but I know I wanted to go for another round – and we were already nearly four hours into the experience.

When I had booked the day’s excursion I worried that we would be spending too much money for a morning out together.

After kayaking and spotting the mollusk-eating whelk and watching London and Mosely masterfully commandeer their own kayaks, all of my concerns vanished.

It was absolutely money well-spent.

Beaufort Kayak Tours also offer historical tours of Beaufort itself – maybe that will be on our next summer’s to-do list!

Seriously – our family was completely satisfied with our day and we wanted to let our kind guides know how great they are at their jobs.  Educational, friendly, totally helpful to our children – they were a fabulous pair of guides.  And they are married to one another too.  I love family business ventures of the outdoor variety.

Kim and David – Beaufort Kayak Tours – you were wonderful.

I was not disappointed – the kayak adventure was indeed my favorite part of our vacation this year.

(Kevin even whipped together a short video of our paddle.  Thanks buddy!)