You have to move with the waves

Well, the activity for OP this day was kayaking! I had never been kayaking before and I really didn't know what to expect since we were doing this in the ocean. We grabbed all of our gear (kayaks, wetsuits, buoyancy aids, helmets, paddles, and wet suit boots) and headed over to Rhoscolyn, a small bay that was perfect for beginning kayakers. We got to the place and unloaded everything when all of a sudden Sally realized that she forgot the spray decks! The spray decks are what go over the tops of the kayaks around your body so that the waves don't come into the kayak and sink it. Thankfully, the Tuesday's OP leader came with us so she drove the 30 minutes back to get the spray decks while Sally had us warm up our bodies on the beach. Once we warmed up, Sally had us get into our kayaks and head out into the water. It was very wobbly at first but then Sally told us that we needed to let down our skeg (also known as the fin) in the water and it certainly helped our kayaks to go straight. We learned how to paddle with the double paddle and pretty much just learn how to maneuver the kayak. We played some games such as follow the leader, raced a little, and played tag. It was very tiring work! Laura had then arrived with the spray decks so we raced back to shore and had our lunch break. We grabbed our spray decks once lunch was over and headed back out but this time we were going along the coast. We followed Laura with Sally bringing up the rear. We went along the coast, in and out of inlets but it was when she told us to go over the rocks that caught us off guard. We had to move with the waves that were moving us all around to go over the rocks. The wave would pull out and the rocks would appear and if you didn't time it right, you would get stuck. So when the wave would come we had to paddle hard to get over the rocks before the wave pulled out and got us stuck. It was pretty tough at first because you had to paddle through a tiny passage way in time with the waves and still remember all the stuff you learned earlier about how to maneuver the kayak. After the first one, the rest that followed were not that tough. I got the hang of it and was able to go over the rocks fairly well. Sally decided it was time to into open water to the Beacon, an island not too far away with a light house on it. We paddled out there and then Sally yelled PADDLE HARD!!!! We were going into over the eddy line and into the current so we had to paddle like you were going being chased to get through the current. It wasn't terrible at all and we made it to the Beacon. We kayaked around the island and then that's when we saw a seal!! It was so close to us! It was so neat. We finished paddling around the island and it was time to head back into shore. We had to cross a particularly difficult current where Elliot capsized and fell out of his kayak. Sally went to help him while we stopped at some rocks to wait for him. He was just fine and we all got a good laugh out of it. It was a very, very, very long paddle back to the beach and we were all exhausted when we finally made it. Sally and Laura had us to a game when we got back that involved us linking our kayaks together. We each had a number and when Laura called out 2 numbers, those people with that number had to switch kayaks without getting into the water. We all failed miserably and that's when Laura gave up. We had the challenge of standing up in our kayak and then turn around. I was able to stand up in my kayak but when I started to turn around that's when I fell in. Oh well, it seemed impossible anyway. We headed back to the beach, loaded up our stuff, and headed back to the Conway Center. When I arrived back to my room, I couldn't relax too much. I had to pack for the fieldtrip to Cardiff, which will be explained in the next post.