My Christmas Story - 2011

It had been the best fall ever for Siasi Putayuq. He had found a job working on the communities water delivery system. Best of all he was driving the truck and not working the hoses at the back. It doesn't get better than that, especially when winter temperatures dropped to -30°C and lower.

With some money coming in at last he put in an order for a brand new skidoo, one of the top models. No longer would he have to drive a fixer-upper and spend most of his weekends working in his tiny shed repairing one thing or another.

By late November the river finally froze over, late again this year… Siasi was anxious to cross the river and head off to Tassuiyuq and do some fishing. Most of the nearby lakes and streams on the town side of the river were pretty well fished out. There were just too many people to feed with the town growing the way it had been for the last few years. Anyway, the big weekend came and all week long people were testing the ice to see if it was safe to cross. The word was that by the weekend, the first party of fishermen would head off and Siasi was going to be with them.

About ten snow machines were ahead of him, but he didn't care as they left the shore and ventured out on the ice. Snow covered for the most part, but a few ice patches were scary. Still no one slowed down, they just kept on the throttle all the way across and only the tidal ice gave them any difficulties. The jumbled blocks of snow and ice caused where the tide rose and fell was always a problem until the worn track was created. This year was no different, but finally all the machines were up on the land and heading for the lake.

The fishing was everything they expected. With no one there fishing for several months, the fish were hungry to be caught. By Sunday evening most people had filled a bag or two full of fresh, frozen trout tied on their kamotiks made the long trek home. Siasi and a couple of friends couldn't tear themselves away. It had been so long since they'd been out on the land, they wanted to squeeze every last second out of it. Finally, the brief sunlight already gone, they loaded up and followed in the tracks of those already departed. They made a stop for tea about half way to the river and then another to tighten the sealskin lines holding the sacks of fish on the kamotiks. As they swept over the last hills before the river banks itself, they suddenly halted. The ice had broken up leaving large stretches of open water between them and the village on the opposite shore…


The ice must have broken up with the last tide as the snow-machine tracks headed right down the tide ice and out onto the last remaining ice. No tracks led either up or down the river. Just as they were about to head up river to see if they could cross further up, lights could be seen coming down to the river on the opposite shore. As they watch, it seemed that someone was launching a boat to come across for them. Siasi breathed a sign of relief! His job would be there in the morning. He didn't want to lose it so soon after he started and his precious skidoo was only partly paid for!

When the boat approached the edge of the ice, Siasi was shocked to see it was a member of the village Qajaq Club in his qajaq! After learning that it was the only craft available, the larger boats having been hauled away from the water weeks ago, Siasi managed to lay down on the rear deck and hang on as the qajaq carefully made its way to the far shore. Other than getting his mitts wet, he managed the trip remarkably well. Within a short period, all the stranded men were safely back on the village side of the river.

I wasn't long before the boat was across the river and Siasi and his friends had grabbed the bow line as it was thrown to them. What became clear as well, as that while they had been rescued, they would have to leave their snow-machines behind. The boat couldn't take them. Still, Siasi reasoned, in a few days the river would freeze over again and probably by next weekend he'd be riding once again!

However, the river ice and the tides had other plans. As it dragged into December and came closer and closer to Christmas, the river would freeze and then break-up, freeze again and break-up again. One weekend, Siasi and his brother went far upriver looking for a crossing place, but found nothing they considered safe. Things were getting more and more depressing. It was especially frustrating when he made his monthly payment on a machine he could even see, let alone use!

The week before Christmas a poster was put up in the Coop store advertising that the new helicopter company in town was going to raffle off a Free Christmas Helicopter Ride. A $2.00 ticket would raise money to win the ride and the money raised would go to building a new Fire Door on the community hall where weekly movies for the children were held. Siasi bought a ticket. He couldn't afford to pay for a helicopter to fly over and pick up his skidoo, but if he won, he'd use his Christmas ride to pick it up and his friends' machines as well.

At the end of the week, on the day before Christmas, everyone crowded into the Community Hall to see the winning ticket being drawn. The mayor reached into the pot and handed the ticket to the manager of the helicopter company. He read out the name. He didn't hear the name very clearly, but it wasn't Siasi, that much he did know. Oh well, he thought, the river will have to freeze sooner or later. He'd just have to be patient. He looked over that one of his friends who also had his machine stuck across the river. He looked back and shrugged then walked out of the Hall.

Christmas day arrived and still the river ice wasn't safe to travel. Around one o'clock in the afternoon, Siasi heard the helicopter taking off. That must be the free ride people getting their free ride, he thought. He turned up the TV to block out the noise. It didn't really matter, helicopters, especially ones that you really wanted to be on, have a way of intruding into your head whether you want them there or not. He could hear it on one side of the house, then it would disappear for a minute or two, only to return again on the other side of the house and again disappear this time for a bit longer.

Just as he was about to get up and turn down the TV, the noise returned and this time it seemed to be right over the house! Was it going to crash on top of him? That's all he needed! The noise was deafening and forced him out of the house to see what was going on. As soon as he stepped out he was caught in the downwash from the rotors, Siasi scrambled away from the house, practical on his knees and then turn and looked up at the crazy helicopter hovering over his house. There, in a sling under the skids hung his skidoo! The chopper moved slightly sideways and lowered the machine gently to the ground, placing it a few feet from his shed.

Siasi rushed over and untied the sling allowing the helicopter to lift up and head back to the river on its way to pick up the next snow-machine. As Siasi turned around one of his friends came around the corner of the house, a big smile on his face. "Merry Christmas, Siasi" That was my uncle who won the helicopter ride. Pretty neat, eh? But…

I know, said the friend, he said he was too old to fly around in a helicopter, but not too old to help young people go fishing!

Note: The images were made by drawing directly on blank 35 mm slides with coloured ink by various people in Kangirsuk in 1972

Eastern Sharbot Lake Paddle

Sharbot Lake is another smallish lake in central Ontario which I visited recently. While it's mostly cottage country, with some built on islands as well, it is nonetheless an interesting paddling venue. While I prefer cottages to be old fashioned and tucked away from the water, it is of some interest to see how building tastes have changes over the years. Some reflect our growing affluance and are virtually palaces. Elaborate docks and floating rafts are all part of the cottage experience...


Of course, no sane cottager would not have an Adirondack chair or two out somewhere on the property for the comfort of out-of-season paddlers...


Warm weather for late November made the paddle pleasant, as did the calm waters. This island cottage appears to have been an old home which has been 'upgraded' with turrets and a fancy boathouse. The 1% builds, the 99% (or a part of them) paddles!

Speaking In Qajaq!

Obviously it's no secret, kayaks or qajait were invented and refined long ago by Inuit people in Canada and Greenland. Today we benefit from their skills and knowledge and use that information to produce the boats that most of us paddle in places around the world. Some of us have tried our hand at reproducing the original kayak designs by building 'skin-on-frame' (SOF) boats of various sorts. This endeavour has enabled the builders to get a bit closer to the Inuit and their way of thinking.

Now there is another way to get closer still. Learn to speak the language of the Inuit themselves: Inuktitut! The one hour audio book called Inuktitut will get you started hearing the sounds of the language and provide you with some useful phrases and vocabulary. As most SOF builders chose to build Greenland style kayaks, this audio book is particularly helpful as the dialect taught in the book is 'Greenlandic'. This dialect varies somewhat from the Inuktitut dialects spoken in arctic Canada, however there are many similarities between the various dialects (and some often amusing differences as well!). Clicking on the link above will bring you to the site at Audible.com, however it's also available from the iTunes store by searching for 'Inuktitut'.

Paddling Smaller Lakes

We all dream of paddling bigger and bigger waters, challenging ourselves with rougher seas, larger crossings, exotic locales and so forth. It's part of the thrill of seakayaking to discover that you have what it takes to take on more difficult paddles than you've done before. Yet, there are small lakes that, taken in detail, can offer up great satisfaction as well!

This past long weekend a few friends and I set up our camp on Lake Clear, Ontario and settled in for some paddling, some socializing and story-telling. The troubles of the world disappeared with each stroke of our paddles as we left the launch site. The warm, clear water and the quiet and rustic camp-site became our world for the next several days.

We explored the lake with its islands of crown land, We drifted past the quaint log cabins and the newer, monster homes. We slipped up narrow, rocky inlets and watched the turtles slide silently off their sun logs and into the water. We smiled to see the baby ducks still swimming together now their parents have left them to fend for themselves. Blue herons drifted over the water in front of our kayaks. We paddled to the far end of the lake to replenish our ice supply and then arrived back of the camp with bags of cold water and peels of laughter. We screamed at the sudden wind-storms that turned quiet ripples into white-capped waves, sending our kayaks surfing down their fronts. We felt the hairs on our necks rise when something came crashing down in the night. Was it a bear? Only in the morning did we discover it had been a tree.

At home today, I washed the camp-fire smoke off everything, my clothes, my tent, my dishes, even my water filter smelled of wood smoke. What a wonderful, sensuous memory of a long weekend hidden away from the world on Lake Clear with good friends.

Saguenay Scenery

Once again, I'm out of the water and examining the shoreline to see what there is to learn. This time I'm at the mouth of the Saquenay Fjord in Quebec on the St Lawrence river. Just a short distance down-river from the town of Tadoussac are enormous sand banks lining the shore. Locally referred to as 'dunes' they are actually the remains of a giant river delta that formed during the last glacial period. There are several levels to the 'dunes' suggesting that there were various stages of development.


Once down on the shoreline one gets a clear picture of how big these dunes are and how steep the face is. What is also clear is how much of the dune is now missing, having been washed away by both tide and river actions over the past several thousand years.


Climbing up the dune also contributes to the wearing away of the sand although I don't imagine most people would notice much change in a single lifetime. There is lots of sand to last us for some time yet! In this last photo one can see the last high tide line right against the bottom of the dune. Not a good place to find oneself on a windy day at high tide...!

I've posted a walking tour guide on EveryTrail about this area at:

Tadoussac Dunes
A walking tour of the dunes located near Tadoussac, Quebec

Knowing the Scenery

As we paddle along the seashore, we often watch the scenery and look for interesting items which make the paddling experience more rewarding. The possibilities are nearly endless, but recently I had occasion to be in a particularly interesting spot: The Joggins Fossil Cliffs on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. This place is listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO because of the fossils found in the area. I took the beach walking tour, but when the water is higher, it's possible to paddle along the cliffs and see more or less the same things I saw. In the photo above you can discern the recent high water mark right at the base of the cliff, but being the Bay of Fundy, one needs to be very vigilant of the tides as they are among the highest in the world. As well the cliffs are very active with frequent rock falls exposing new fossils all the time.


There are two ways to see the 300 million year old fossil trees embedded in the cliffs. The first can be seen above as an impression of the bark of the tree remaining in the surrounding rocks where the tree once was. Often the results are astonishing clear and vivid, as seen in the above photo.


The second is the fossilized remains of the tree itself as seen above. These particular specimens once grew up to the height of ten story buildings. Today, their nearest relatives are club mosses, only a few centimeters high at most. Fossils collected at this site were used in the famous Darwin evolution trials in England, which partly accounts for the site's status with UNESCO.


At the time these fossil trees and animals were being buried, so where the swamp beds which created the oil and coal we find today. The Joggins area is laced with coal seams. In the above photo, a tiny one can be seen heading out into the Bay. Other larger ones can be seen in the cliffs, and the beaches are streaked with coal dust eroded from the cliffs.

So next time you watch the shore as you paddle by, wonder about how old it is and what its history might be. Oftentimes you'll be amazed!

The Compleat Kayaker

Over the years I have slowly been evolving to meet any and all conditions while I attempted to paddle my kayak in places far from home. Here one can see what's happened during this voyage of discovery. First the kayak, mounted on it's long distance delivery system. Next comes the home away from home where the paddler, that's me, rests between bouts on the water, and last, the local delivery component which also doubles as the put-in scout vehicle, the foldable micro-transporter which allows me to venture here and there peddling between various bits of kit and caboodle which most paddlers carry about with them for reasons known mostly to themselves. It's been known to bring food and drink in as well!

It all seems to work rather well, amazingly enough!

Apple Blossom Paddling

I went paddling on a couple of Ontario lakes this past holiday weekend and discovered not only some paddling spots, but another whole new experience. It rained apple blossoms. A nice change from the other, more common sort of rain. Here one gets big white petals for drops and an enchanting scent which fills the air with delight. Fun!

Getting To The Beach On Time

I just added a new piece of equipment to my hoard of junk. With it, I'll be able to get to the beach quickly, paddle sooner, run errands, lower my carbon intake, attract girls and generally get more out of life. Well, mostly, perhaps, if I'm lucky.

One of the things about kayak camping is being able to explore the coastline. However, I like to see the coastline from both sides and with my new folding bike I'm hoping to do more of that during my travels this coming summer. The MEC folding bike is actually made in Taiwan by Dahon and comes well fitted out for day cruising both in town and out in the country. I can just picture me now, returning after a long day's paddle, peddling down to the store for some cold ones, a bit of firewood and then curling up to a camp fire meal with all my gear close by. You guessed it, idyllic isn't it?


While the bike folds into a relatively small package, it's too large for my kayak hatches. It might work as a deck ornament for short outings in calm waters, but that's not my objective. This bike is one which will pack easily in my small car, yet rides much like a full-sized bike on shore for trips here and there. While I've yet to test it out, I'm pretty sure I can set it up to tow my kayak to the beach if I don't feel like carrying it that far. I already have a cart which will carry the boat and only need a rig to fix the bow to the bike. I can't wait to see how it works out!

Not Today, Mate!

Looking up the driveway this morning after yesterday's snow storm was a mixed bag. While the snow had been cleared finally and the cars were now visible under their new white blankets, the kayaks are still a long way from the water...


But it's March and the sun was warm while I shovel around the cars. The melting has begun already. I'll be back on the water soon. Sure I will!

Why Not Drive?

Many kayakers dream of paddling in the far north around ice bergs and seals and all that arctic stuff. Most of us are held back by the frightening cost of air transporting our kayaks and other gear from wherever we live to a decent put-in beach in the high latitudes. Well, that's about to change!

In the above photo, you can see the answer! Get yourself one of these buggies and you're good to go wherever you want. Made to tackle the polar ice, the bears, the darkness and cold, you'll be assured of being first at the launch site.

Personally, I'm taking a wait and see approach and thinking of doing some warm water practice session in the meantime. Still, they are kinda cool-looking...

EveryTrail

Pinnacle, Baldwin's Mills

EveryTrail - Find trail maps for here and beyond

I've recently been playing with putting up trips on the Every Trail web site. The idea being, it might give me another way to enrich the blogging experience if more information is provided on where exactly I paddled, hiked, skied or whatever. The Every Trail people provide a convenient way to do this on their site and also provide a simple way to embed the trip onto a blog. I'm not sure this is exactly what I'm looking for as it doesn't look quite the same as on their site. For example, the photos block the route map and the speed of the video is too fast to really get a view of anything, however, it's a start. Actually I find that playing it over again seems to slow it down on my computer, making it easier to see where the photos were taken and what the route was. You can compare this with the Every Trail version on their site by clicking on the link above.

Below is the non-photo version...

Pinnacle, Baldwin's Mills at EveryTrail

My Yoga App

I recall several years ago it being announced at the Delmarva Paddler's Retreat that there would be yoga session for anyone interested at 6 in the morning. Needless to say, I slept through that nonsense! With age however, has come a bit of wisdom and I am now into doing yoga. Last fall when the dawn call went out for yoga at the Ontario Greenland Camp, I was there with the others doing whatever the leader requested of us. And I truly believe I was the better for it!


Back home however doing yoga without a leader to guide you has been problematic, but not any more. There's an 'app' for that on iTunes. Actually there are lots, but the one that I like and use on my little iTouch is called 'All In Yoga' which has 200 poses one can assemble in any order to make programs or one can follow pre-set programs. I do both. As I'm a beginner at this, each of the 200 poses has a photo and description which helps one decide whether it might be useful to a paddler like me who wants to benefit from flexibility poses more than strength. Using this information, I have made up a program I've called 'Paddler' which I do a few times each week and I follow one of the app's pre-set programs called 'Sun Salutation' which I do most mornings.


When you actually run the program it automatically marks your effort on a built in calendar, Nice! Even better, I can bring my iTouch along with me camping and paddling so there's no excuse not to stay flexible doing daily yoga exercises!

The Future...

Looking back over the past several years I've been writing this blog, it's clear there have been changes. Not only has the visual aspect of the blog changed, but also and perhaps more importantly, it's clear it doesn't command my attention as it once did. Now that the staff have been dragged kicking and screaming from their Holiday revelries, it's time to wonder what's been going on over the last few years. Certainly many of the early kayaking bloggers I started with have practically disappeared from view, their space now taken up by newer bloggers. At some point, it might be instructive to see where my blog might profitably go in this changing environment as the new year plods merrily along.

For me, perhaps the biggest change over the last few years has been the arrival of René Seindel's 'Paddling Planet' site. Not only did this site collate most, perhaps all, of the world's kayak blogs in one place for easy viewing, it also meant that fewer people needed to visit those blogs directly. Comments have tended to be fewer in number as a result, although controversy still managed to pull people in now and then. Personally, I've enjoyed being able to read many new blogs at the 'Planet' site and even tried my dismal linguistic skills when necessary. I am particularly intrigued with many of the Scandinavian and Italian bloggers out there, from whom I've learned much.

The other big change to the blogging world has been FaceBook. Just look at the picture above to see how the 500 million users and more have straddled the globe! This has been yet another way to form a community of kayakers and one which I have found myself visiting more and more often. Unlike a blog, there is much more immediacy in these FaceBook contacts and one quickly gets to know the writers and where they paddle most often. It has however meant that what I might have once posted on my blog, instead went to FaceBook with less detail perhaps, but more interaction.

Twitter has taken over many bloggers output as well, although I have yet to figure out how to say anything in so few words...

Photo credit: The Thought Catalog

Tumasi's New Boots

You're right, the picture is missing. As soon as I get permission to post it, I will. If you really, really need to see it before you begin reading - or during - then click 'here'. It won't take you exactly to the picture, but scroll down a bit and I think you'll see which one I want to use...

Ever since I started writing this blog, I've shut the office down at Christmas, doubled the staff's pay and told a Christmas story. This year, even in these tough economic times, I've been able to extend this gift again. I hope you'll enjoy this year's offering! Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays!

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tumasi close the door to the trailer classroom building where he taught and start to head over to where I was in the main school building. I turned and watch him as he made his way to the school door. I was thinking about how our lives had slowly come together. He'd been born in a sod house out on the tundra and I'd been born in a hospital in a southern Canadian city. So far apart and now here we were together. We were the same age, teaching the same grade and spending our weekends hunting and fishing out on the same landscape.

The door slammed shut and I could here him speaking to one of the teaching assistants in Inuktitut. He was excited. He'd got a call from the post office. A long awaited parcel from Sears had finally arrived after several delays. His footsteps were silent as he made his way down the hall to my class, but his excitement told me he was at the door.

"Johnni-ai!" He spoke the common greeting style in the Inuit culture of northern Quebec. I smiled.

"So we're headed to the the post office…! I'll be ready in a sec."

"Ya, finally my boots are in. Can't believe it's taken so long. I thought I'd be going hunting barefoot this Christmas!"

I looked down at his feet. He was wearing beautiful homemade kamiik, sealskin boots his aunt had made. Everyone in the community wanted a pair of those boots and Tumasi wanted Baffin skidoo boots from Sears. What a crazy world!

"Ya, right. You look barefoot in those kamiik. Real shame to have to cut your frozen feet off, especially at Christmas. It might keep you working regular hours though, without those fast moving feet…!"

He smiled. He knew I was always bugging him about his 'just-in-time' style of working, never wasting a moment in school that he could spend on his skidoo out on the land.

We headed to the post office and picked up the boots. I was a bit surprised by how heavy the box seemed to be, but decided not to say anything.

"Come over for some tea." Tumasi said as we exited the building. "We'll see how these beauties fit!" We strolled down the snow covered main road through town. I noticed they'd raised the price of gas again at the Coop. It was $0.75 a gallon! Incredible! It just keeps getting more and more expensive these days. I was glad we didn't have cars in the North. Can you image running a car with gas at that price!

I couldn't believe how long it took Tumasi to finally get around to opening the box and trying on his new boots. He made tea, we ate some dried caribou his cousin had dropped off last weekend and then Tumasi decided he wanted to change all the lights on his Christmas tree for ones that blinked on and off. Better his place than mine, I thought. Blinking lights? Oh gawd…

The wrapping on the boot box seemed to be tougher than steel, but Tumasi finally took his pocket knife to it and off it came. In shreds. Next the box itself, which proved to be a bit easier. He raised the flaps and looked inside.

"Waaaa…?" I looked in the box. It was full of light blue foam peanut-like things. Tumasi shoved his hand into the peanuts and felt around.

"Aaaaaaiiii…? What the…?" He pulled out a Hohner button accordion! Shiny, red, and so not boot-like!

"Did you order an accordion boots?" I said, pretending to be shocked. Now Tomasi can't play an accordion. In fact, he can't even hold a tune as far as I knew.

"Are you kidding?" He fished around in the box as if the boots were still down there hidden somewhere in the peanut pile, but of course they weren't. "I don't believe this! An accordion? Where are my stupid boots…? Sears! What idiots Kabloonat are!"

"I tell you what. Let's trade boots. You can have my boots and I'll take your kamiik." I lived in hope although his feet were smaller than mine by a couple of sizes. Maybe I could get them stretched...

"No can do, friend. My aunt would have me stretched, dried and sewn into a parka if I did that."

Tumasi was clearly confused about the marvels of southern Canadian culture when people down there didn't know the difference between skidoo boots and accordions, but what could he do.

I left him with his problems and headed home to work on my own for a while. It certainly was a costly error on Sears' part. I checked the mail-order catalogue and discovered the accordion cost over $300 while the boots were less than $50.

At school the next day, I noticed that Tumasi wasn't wearing his new accordion 'boots', but he was smiling. "So what happened?" I asked. Here's what he told me.

"Well it turns out my aunt's husband used to play the accordion. I never knew that, but he says he used to borrow one and play one when he was young. His mother had learned to play accordion when the old traders used to come up here long ago. When he herd about the mixed-up package I'd got, his eyes lit up like Christmas lights. There's no way he could afford to buy an accordion, so thanks to Sears, he's now the owner of his first accordion. He's offered to order me some new boots from his cousin the skidoo dealer the Coop uses. They'll be in on the next plane!"

"So can he still play?" I asked.

"A little bit, but he's rusty. He said with a few days of practice, he'll be ready to play again. He already told everyone there'll be an old time Christmas party in the school gym with step-dancing, just like in the old days. Pretty cool, ai?"

"Ya, pretty cool!" And it was!

iKayak

Wondering what to get for the kayaker you know who never actually gets out on the water, but loves to tell stories of the wild times he/she had? Well, if they have a iphone or ipad, then here's just the thing. iKayak! Silly, but it did help pass the time for a while on that 15 hour to and from flight to Asia I took recently. All the fun of the real thing without getting out of your seat, changing into a drysuit or wondering where the take-out is. Just start edging your craft and the rest is taken care of!

The Search For Franklin

You cannot be a fan of all things arctic without wondering what happened to Sir John Franklin and his two ships, the Erebus and the Terror. Despite years of searching, very little in the way of remains have ever been found which is odd considering both ships contained locomotive steam engines which surely would show up on some kind of sensor and the location where they were last known to be is recorded in the only document found.

This past summer, yet another group, Parks Canada, went looking for the ships, but again, to no avail. They did find a ship however! This one was a bit easier to locate as detailed records were kept locating where it had been abandoned in 1854 by Captain Robert McClure and his 66-man crew. The ship was the HMS Investigator. The ship had been locked in ice after wintering twice in a dead end bay finally forcing McClure and his crew to abandon the ship and leave behind a cache of equipment and provisions on the shore. They made it to safety eventually and returned to England bearing the sad news that Franklin remained lost.


This summer's search has produced some remarkable photos of the Investigator as she lies upright on the bottom of the shallow bay where she was abandoned years ago. As the area is now part of Aulavik National Park, one might assume that kayaking trips will soon be organized to visit the wreck and go diving on her... Well, one can dream, at least!

Image sourse: http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/culture/expeditions/introduction.aspx

Fire Dancing on Ko Samet

Kayakers by nature become well acquainted with beaches and beach life, but every now and then a beach turns up with something a little out of the ordinary on it. Here is an example.

Fire Dancers from Michael Bradley on Vimeo.

These very young children would appear each night on the beaches of Ko Samet, Thailand and perform these swirling fire dances for anyone who'd watch. After the performance there'd be a passing of the hat and the children would head down the beach to perform again.

Do these children go to school during the day? Is this to be their life work? I have no idea, but it was a bit shocking to see how skilled they already were and to wonder what their futures would be like...

Seasonal Variations in Taiwan

Back in Taiwan, I once again set about looking for a kayak to paddle. I had very kindly been given a list of Taiwanese kayak venders by Nigel Foster before leaving so I presumed this hunt would be an easy one. Looking over his list, it soon became obvious that the southern end of the island would be my best bet. I took the hi-speed train to Tainan in the southwest.


Once there I encountered my first problem. I don't speak Chinese! Fortunately, my son does. However as all my contact information was written in English, we discovered it wasn't easy to convert addresses and so on into the local version of Chinese spoken by most people in Tainan. Calling around also proven disappointing as venders seemed reluctant to rent out boats given they felt it was "winter" and their stock had already been put away! Finally an adventure-touring company in the city also declined to rent out boats as their season was over... I guess that's why so many folks we saw as we walked around in the chilly (?) 25°C weather were wearing their down-filled parkas and fur-rimmed hoods!

Driving back to the hotel from a bird-watching outing - rare black-faced spoonbills - the guide casually mentioned we really should be out in kayaks to see the birds. What, we asked? Yes, he had two boats at home we could borrow. Sadly we'd already booked our train for the journey back north and the flight home...


Not to be thwarted quite so easily, on our last day, we headed to Fulong on the east coast. As the train pulled into the station we could see a kayak sign! Finally, with one day to go, I'd paddle, but it wasn't to be. This place too had closed for the season.

So from a paddling point of view, the trip was disappointing, but I would go again, in season next time. I think I'd also make it a point to travel to places where kayaking outfitters are well set up and expecting people like me, anxious to rent. Certainly these places exist. I just chose not to visit those areas as this particular trip was more family oriented. The SE Asian coastline is definitely made for paddlers with every variety of skill level you could ever wish for. I wouldn't discourage anyone from going. Just do a little homework first if paddling is your primary goal.

Snorkeling The Reefs

When Ko Samet turned out not to be a paddler's paradise, at least in terms of interesting kayaks to paddle, I looked around for alternate water activities. Large motorboats would arrive off the beach each morning, people would climb aboard over the stern and off they would go, returning each evening, all happy and tanned. We soon found out they had spent the day snorkeling the reefs surrounding some small offshore islands. That sounded interesting, so we booked…


The trip out to the islands took less than an hour and we anchored in picturesque bays, moving every now and then to sample different sites. The equipment this time was in excellent condition and seemed brand new!


While the scene above water was totally engaging, what we saw under the the surface was shocking. Most of the coral was dead and the marine life usually associated with reefs had mostly disappeared. The cause? The guides put the blame squarely on recent increases in water temperature. It appears that coral can only live within a relatively narrow temperature range and that had been exceeded in this area. In spite of this disappointment, it was good to be swimming in the clear water and seeing what once was. Will it return? Will the commercial fishing be able to sustain itself in these changing times? Only time will tell, but it did make me think about how our impact on the planet is slowly but surely putting the squeeze on us. It led me to post a carbon dioxide watch widgit here on the blog to remind me to curtail the size of my personal footprint...


We finished the day by visiting a small island park where we were served refreshments of juice and fresh fruit. Here as well, we got to know some of our fellow snorkelers more personally. In particularly, this lady, a Thai befriended us and we ended up traveling back to Bangkok with her the following day. Throughout the trip we were treated to incredible hospitality and kindness by local people. It was very heartwarming!