Waves? What waves?

We are currently staying at a vineyard which is amazing and I will post more about that later. For now, i have to post about yesterday's adventure. Yesterday we drove to Picton which is the town on the Marlborough Sound from which the Interisland Ferry departs (it connects with Wellington on the North Island). We rented a nice tandem kayak, very similar to what we have at home. It was a gorgeous day and we packed our picnic into the waterproof hatch. We headed out of the harbor, dodging the ferry, and were enjoying some nice calm water (for the ocean).

Our picnic spot at the Governors Bay Scenic Reserve was a little further than we thought, but we made it there and enjoyed our fresh cherries, cheese,and crackers. Since we only rented the kayak unti 4:30, we headed back before too long. Unfortunately, while we were picnicking, the wind had picked up quite a bit and we were now heading back into a strong headwind that was creating whitecaps. It was manageable at first, but then we hit some huge swells. Adam and I estimated them to bee 4 feet from top to bottom. Adam did a great job keeping us headed directly into the waves, but my heart was still pounding for quite a while. Plus, i had taken my Keens off in the bottom of the boat and i didn't want to tip and lose them. So after paddling as hard as we could for about an hour, we finally rounded the last bend into the harbor and calmer waves. At this point i basically couldn't lift my arms anymore. As a reward for all our hard work, we did see a king shag, a seal, and a pod of dolphins. Now that it's over, i'm happy we had our sea kayaking adventure. Needless to say, the hot showers we took when we got back to the vineyard felt amazing.