Kayaking With Ain

Cousin Ain. It's been a very, very long time since she and I spent time together. So when she sent me a text message, inviting me to go kayaking with her, I jumped at the opportunity. Ain has been known to change her mind at the last minute, so I readied myself early, scrubbed myself extra hard in the shower (in case it's my smell that's been keeping her at bay), packed my lunch, and slathered on the SPF 60, prepared to give her the guilt trip of the century if she called with even a hint of an excuse!

It was the perfect day to be on the water. The temperature soared to an abnormal low eighties, and the air was still. After waiting an hour for our kayak  -  everyone else and their grandma was there, the line was so long!  -  we finally headed out. Funny, I didn't notice all the traffic on the water until we were out there in the midst of it.

Suddenly, a gut wrenching fear gripped me. In front of us, behind us, on port side, on starboard, there were boats of all sizes. Yachts, ski boats, rubber skiffs, sail boats, Seattle Water Patrol, even a tug boat! Every time a horn blared I thought it was directed at us, in our double kayak, which felt like a tiny leaf weaving between behemoth vessels that don't care about it. I thought about the fisherman in his canoe, off the coast of Bohol, minding his own hooks when the Star Craft ferry ran it over! (This happened the last time I was there, in September of 2012.) And the second predominant thought going through my panicked mind as we paddled steadily through the Montlake Cut was if we get tipped over and/or if my iPhone falls into the water, I'm diving for it!

We made it to the relative calm of the arboretum. "Relative" because of the dozens of other paddle boaters in there with us, and the countless college co-eds, acting like they're all grown up with their cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, jumping into the cool, marshy, turtle infested lagoon of the arboretum. Other than that, the water in there was like glass.

After our fair share of exploring every inlet we came across, and getting tangled up with a pair of kayakers in a dead end amidst a grove cattail grass, we headed back to the dock. We braved the throng of motorized boats again, this time though, more confident, even passing a pair of single kayakers.

Come to find out, this weekend was the opening of boating season. No wonder every boat and their mini replicas were out there!

"Next time," Cousin Ain said, "let's explore Lake Union."

Next time, we won't run into a regatta.

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