Travel Missteps: Kayak Misadventure

I have a love/hate relationship with kayaking. My previous experience being swept out to sea in Mexico (hate) and then a clam lake kayaking in Costa Rica (love). So when the opportunity to kayak in Bocas del Toro, Panama I was excited to love it again (spoiler…no I did not love it.) I had had a lazy morning, mostly because I could tell I was starting to feel sick. So when I bumped into some of the group heading back out to kayak I joined them. Kristy and Arianna had already kayaked that morning and they were excited to do it some more, maybe heading across to the other island to visit Aqua Lounge (shown below.)

Damien joined us, and it was decided we’d do two two-person kayaks. Kristy and Arianna would once again be together and me and Damien would follow behind in our kayak. They were cute monstrosities. Bright red, with open seats. And they were a bitch to try to get into. After I tethered all my important things to the seat (thank god) I let Damien go in first since I’m klutzy beyond all belief. This was…unwise. Because I had to hold the kayak close to the deck for Damien to get in, but with the waves it was moving away from the deck. I couldn’t hold it well, and Damien ended up falling into the water! After a second and third try he made it in (although now pretty wet) and I scrambled to try to get in.

After managing to get in, it was time to row. Being sick (and later finding out no energy due to thyroid issues) made me pretty much a shitty rower, and I often had to stop for breaks. But the waves were enough that it felt like we weren’t making any progress. The girls in front of us just glided ahead, fast and smooth. We struggled. After a while I realized this wasn’t working and I already needed a break. I spied a beach up ahead. “Lets head for the beach” I shouted. All I wanted now was to make landfall and lay on the beach for a while before having to get the stupid kayak back.

But as we got closer I realized something. THE WAVES. If I was struggling now just to get to the beach, how would we break past them on the way out? As we got closer I realized another issue. “TURN AROUND, WE CANNOT GET ANY CLOSER TURN AROUND” I shouted in vain to Damien. Because I just realized not only would the waves make it impossible to get off the beach, but now that we were so close, the waves would capsize us…and so as we frantically tried to turn away from the beach…a wave capsized us.

Thankfully, we were only in 3 foot deep water, so we could stand as we tried to catch our water bottles, paddles, and the kayak. Local children, probably 6-9 years old laughed and came up to us, asking us questions in Spanish. Not knowing what they were asking we just smiled and shrugged (turns out they were pretty much asking if they could have the kayak since we were so bad at it.)

But now, the real drama started to unfold. WE COULDN’T GET BACK IN. One of us would get in, then the other would get in and flip the other out. I cringed so hard. I’m so fucking klutzy and now it was embarrassing. There would be no way to easily get back to the main island without the kayak, so I couldn’t chicken out and catch a taxi or something. :( Finally we had to have the kids hold the kayak, and our paddles, while we got in and leaned in the opposite direction as the other got in. With a strong push from the children, and Kristy guiding us, somehow we made it back past the waves.

We decided to head back and towards where more of the hostels were. As we passed the one where we had rented the kayak, I got out. I was litterally dead weight and couldn’t row anymore. Damien decided to press on by himself in the two seater, and I watched the trio paddle away while I just hung out at the hostel. I didn’t live up to my “Arm Strong” name that day and won’t be ocean kayaking anytime ever again.