Journey on the Sea of Cortez by TJ Jones

It is our second day on our sea kayaking journey, and it has been successful so far!

Snorkel frenzy

Yesterday was really fun; we got to go snorkeling in a huge sea lion community, which was amazing. There was a diverse population of sea life in the warm waters next to the small rock island that made for a good food source for the sea lions.

The day had just begun. After our swim with the sea lions, we went back to the beach where our camp was.  It was time to demonstrate a wet exit in our kayaks, or roll our kayak, if we knew how to wet exit. It was fun for me to think about how different sea kayaking and whitewater kayaking are, but also see the relation of the two.

Choose a Kayak

The big difference came from having tandem kayaks. The tandems are larger and longer, which makes everything a little trickier. One similarity is that both types of kayaks have rudders controlled by foot pedals inside the cockpit. This makes turning easier, but it also makes you have to think a lot more about what your feet were doing when you paddle. Being in a tandem kayak was a new experience for me; it was very interesting, different, and weird .

Prepare to peel out!

But going back to today, we had the honor of doing the world’s biggest peel out – that is with the most kayaks. We left our little protected bay and entered the windy Sea of Cortez, beautiful blue skies with white-capped waves pushing us south. Once we got out into the open sea, it was surprisingly fun to be bouncing in and out of the waves, and we got a few good surfs in on the way to camp. Camp was another beautiful beach for us to watch another beautiful sunset.

Sunset on the rocks

So again, it has been a successful trip so far, and I am extremely grateful I get to have this experience – even if there is three feet of snow on the ground at the Lodge!