Kayak – RDZ Photography

Rio De La Plata, Argentina – January 2020 – A Day on the River

The Rio De La Plata is considered by some as the widest river in the world, at between 30 and 80 miles wide. Others consider it either a bay or estuary. Regardless it is a busy place on a sunny summer day.

The delta beyond the city of Tigre have no roads, but numerous houses and restaurants. Their only way to receive supplies is via the grocery boats.

The boats that take people out to the islands often have to store the larger items on the roof.

Meanwhile a load of bamboo comes to town.

On a day like this there are literally hundreds of sailboats on the water all along the shoreline.

The windsurfers are amazingly fast.

While many just hung out on their boat.

The San Isidro Cathedral and a nice sailboat.

For most of the 30 miles of shoreline from Buenos Aires to Tigre is lined with tall apartment buildings.

The newer sailors in the school sometimes struggle, but stayed upright.

Leaving a nice line of small matching sailboats.

This guy was amazing flying along just above the water.

There are many very shallow areas that give a strange perspective in the middle of the river – such as the people walking seemingly in the middle of the water.

The troubadour boat 🙂

Great lighting, great sailboat.

Where are we – oh yeah – Argentina.

On the narrower part of the river near Tigre there was a mass of various craft.

The far side of the river have large grasses.

The wooden sailboats have a wonderful look.

The Parque de la Costa (Coast Park) has more than 30 rides and attractions.

The return trip had a few more great watercraft.

It was a great day on the Rio De La Plata.

Hawaii – November 2018 – Day 12 Lanai

History, Nature, Transportation

Day 12 had us spending time near and on the island of Lanai. It is currently mostly owned by a software billionaire, but 2% remain in the hands of the local people.

We were parked for the day in the Mauele Bay.

Before we started our day we had a private tour of the ships engine room with the engineer. For most people on a cruise in Hawaii this wouldn’t be high on the list, but it was for me – very cool.

Twin 700 HP diesel engines (only one seen in this photo).

It was a relaxing day for all.

All of the crew of the ship have multiple jobs, including the captain – here explaining to the kayakers how to push off the boat and get started.

Which they all successfully did!

I opted for the skiff tour of the local geology. Note the mist coming out of the hole at the bottom center. There are numerous blowholes around Hawaii, basically small caves that the water is forced into where it runs out of space and come blowing back out.

While one of the smaller ones we saw, it did creates rainbows.

Our tour continued along the cliffs where there was clear evidence of the volcanic activity and subsequent abrupt movements of the earth that sheared off with dramatic results.

The most famed geologic point was Sweetheart Rock. At one point there would’ve been a large arch here but that came down long ago.

As with many other locations like this, local lore has it that one person had forbidden love and threw themselves to their death, hence Sweetheart Rock.

A local seabird (not sure what kind) coming in for a landing. It took him/her 4 tries!

Eventually the kayakers returned.

And everyone went for a swim. Most went off the back of the boat, but some of the more daring jumped off the 2nd deck, including this elderly woman from Mississippi!

Our afternoon was spent at a cat sanctuary (enough on that for a separate post), and some time in Lanai City.

Lanai was a pineapple plantation before rich people bought the entire island. Our driver (Neal) had grown up on the island and worked the plantation before working in the motor pool.

He eventually started his own shuttle business and now has a fleet of 14 vans. Oh – he also plays music and showed us photos of him with Steven Tyler and Mick Fleetwood!

After a tour of the town we returned to the beach for a sunset walk up to view Sweetheart Rock.

Another Hawaii day – another Hawaii sunset.

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio – April 2018 – A Second Visit to Kayak Races

Festival, Nature, Sports

With the success of the photos from the 2017 Cuyahoga Falls Kayak races we decided to make a return visit. The action didn’t disappoint.

It seems as though many more flipped this year.

Or got spun around and went down some backwards.

Some however went over the rapids spectacularly.

A strange sight is the effort to go from the rocks to the water with a maneuver known as a Seal Move.

The close up’s were even more impressive. It was a cold, wet day but well worth it.

Southeast Alaska Panhandle – September 2017 – “Uncruise” Part 2

Nature

With the small ship the entire crew, and other passengers, quickly become familiar with each other on a first name basis. One of the great features was the permission to go onto the bridge anytime you like during the day, unless they were in an especially tricky navigation spot.

This day I went up and it was just the Captain and me, jamming out to ‘Wish You Were Here’ by Pink Floyd, while we cruised along at about 5 knots looking for whales.

Later we anchored in a bay and set the kayaks out.

This bay offered more wildlife, which if I recall the information from the guides correctly are Cormorants.

A mama otter with her baby on her chest floating in the bay.

One of the paddle boarders and a kayak backed by 8000′ mountains.

Later on the same kayak outing we passed this otter, who was not happy we were in his space as he bared his teeth and hissed at us.

You can tell the females as their noses are dinged up from rough sex where the male apparently bites their noses in passion.

Why paddle board with your feet on the board when you can do a handstand.

Nothing better than to be in a still bay in Alaska checking out the sea life near the rocks.

A Harbor Seal.

The waters were so calm everything had great reflections.

The next morning there was thick fog that gradually lifted through the morning.

An eagle soaring above the fog.

A skiff returns across the calm waters.

The afternoon was spent ‘bushwhacking’ through the forest. No bears or other wildlife was found but there was evidence of foresting that once occurred there.

The ground was so thick with the moss that it was spongy.

more to come….

Southeast Alaska Panhandle – September 2017 – “Uncruise” Part 3

Nature

As we arrived at Glacier Bay National Park we went ashore for a hike. A Long House greeted us as we passed the visitor center.

The house is made out of cedar which gives it a great smell.

The hike through the forest was filled with scenes of fungus growing everywhere.

As we reached the river at low tide there was evidence of animals, as shown with this bear paw print. The guide indicated it must be a baby since it is so small, but they have great claws.

We returned to the ship and continued past Gloomy Point, where mountain goats populate the steep terrain.

The flow from a glacier ends up at the sea in a small river.

We stopped by Margerie Glacier, or “Large Marge” as the crew call her.

Nearby we dropped the anchor near Lamplugh Glacier, where the kayaks were put out for exploring.

We paddled around the small icebergs to get a close look at the Glacier.

Trying to avoid the larger ones, recalling that 10% of the ice is above the water, the rest is below. They also at times will ‘roll’ and you don’t want to be close to one this size if that happens.

Around the corner from the ship was an impressive waterfall with glacier melt water.

We returned to our home for the week thoroughly in awe of the opportunity to kayak in such an amazing setting, while wishing we could spend more time and go on the other adventures such as hiking up the ridge next to the glacier, or along the shoreline in front.

While checking out the beautiful scenery one of the large cruise ships went by. Amazingly despite they fact there are 2000 people on the ship, and they are passing the glaicer behind us, I counted about 40 people out on the decks or their balconies checking out the scene.

The day ended with a polar bear plunge for the daring.

The crew of the WAV were amazing. It was obvious that they are passionate about the sea, glaciers, wildlife and the opportunity to share it with the passengers. The great thing about the Uncruise people is the crew gets opportunities too, and many of them participate in the polar bear plunge.

The bartender Heidi was celebrating her birthday by going into the cold water.

One of the Stewards Jessi had a goal of doing the polar bear plunge each of the 18 weeks she was working, and since she had missed a couple early, was doubling up on the last 2 weeks (we were the second to last trip of the season), so Jessi went in twice!

As we began our return to Juneau we passed more Sea Lions, these guys are caught on a small rock island at high tide

Plenty of birds.

Early Saturday morning we returned to the harbor, where Captain Gavin carefully parallel parked the ship at the dock.

Our week had ended, but the memories will last forever. Most of our fellow travelers were from Australia and New Zealand, with some Americans mixed in. They were fun, friendly people who shared a passion for not just seeing the scenes roll by their ship windows, but get into the kayaks and paddle around, go into the forest and get muddy, or just sit around in the evenings sharing stories or learning about America.

As I noted on the first posting very few times do things turn out better than their advertising but the Uncruise folks came through. Even the weather was better than expected with very little rain (although I don’t think they get credit for that!).

Thanks to Captain Gavin and the entire crew of the Wilderness Adventurer.

Cuyahoga Falls, OH – April 2017 – Kayak Races

Nature, Sports

The Cuyahoga River wanders for almost 90 miles around northeast Ohio, ending up (in a straight line) less than 20 from where it starts. While mostly known for it’s industrial portion in Cleveland, much of the path it is a small wild river.

The town of Cuyahoga Falls, near Akron, is the site of a waterfalls (hence the name) that had been rendered non existent for 100 years from dams. Those dams were recently removed, returning the river to it’s natural state, including an impressive waterfalls.

For the second year this portion of the river featured kayak racing. A Sheraton Hotel is situated at the falls, and the view from the balconies of the falls and action was spectacular.

The entire event seemed well organized, with safety being foremost. The local fire department rescue team provided support, as well as the race organizations staff.