Summer Vacation: Part 1

I needed a day to recuperate from FARTAB before taking off on vacation. I headed back up 'north' to WT-Land to cut the grass, unpack/repack and do a million other things before driving back to south county.

I headed down to stay in my parents house while they weren't there. It is a few miles from the beach and close to Ninigret Pond. I had the place to myself for a few days for biking, kayaking, and sailing. The 'routine' was to wake up early and go out kayaking or mountain biking.

I have two kayaks. One is a 17ish foot yellow 2 seater beast that you've seen in all the pictures from FARTABs, other river trips, stuff like that. Mrs 40 and I got that as a very cool wedding present from my three sisters. There's lots to be said for plastic boats. You can beat the sh*t out of them, drag them down the rocks, beach them anywhere, and bump into things when carrying it, and leave them outside and not worry about damage from exposure to the elements.

However... Two things plastic boats will never have: glide and style.

This is the other boat. It is a handbuilt, mahogany, 18 foot Cape Charles sea kayak. It only weighs 47 pounds. (The 17 foot yellow beast weighs 72 lbs)



When I was living in Blacksburg Virginia, my neighbor was bringing this out to his truck with a For Sale on it. I skidded to a stop, and asked about it. My neighbor and his father were wooden boat builders from New Bern NC. They built two identical Cape Charles 18s from plans from Chesapeake Light Craft (CLC) and then took them on a summer tour. After the tour my neighbor (who had ten kayaks in his apartment) needed to get rid of one. An 18ft wooden boat isn't ideal for the typical whitewater of the New River so he decided to sell this boat.

I tried it out at Pandapas Pond (yes, the same place this blog and Pandapas.com is named after) and bought it right away. You can't imagine how fast and clean it cuts through the water, and how it just glides forever.

After graduation I brought it to my parents house, then joined the working world. Since it would be cruel to treat it like a plastic boat, it spends most of the time inside the basement. Looking Sad.

Thing is, I don't get a chance to use it as much as I should. A crime I know. So.. this week while I was staying down there I left the boat outside and went out in it every chance I got.

I like to get up really early in the summer... the lakes and salt ponds are mirror calm that early and the water is crystal clear.

The brown blurs to the right of the sign are deer hanging out in the cove at Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge. (Should have brought the real camera and not the camera-phone)



After the deer took off I went onshore to feed the misquitos and drink my coffee.



After that I took a poor man's tour of Arnolda (a very wealthy neighborhood in Charlestown.) Check out the view a million dollars (or a kayak) gets you:



After that, I took more early morning kayak trips and scouted out the coves and tidal creeks around the pond. I even took the kayak out in the ocean once. It was a little spooky but man.. it was awesome. Some more kayak pix, in no order.

A tidal creek between Green Hill Pond and the Charlestown Breachway. LOTS of striped bass feeding this morning.



Misty Morning (Cue Bob Marley...)



Another cove (lots of blue crabs in there)



I took next week off too... I'll post more pictures if I do anything fun. I'm planning a river trip with my sister and her kids, teaching my nephew to ride a bike, and more early morning kayaking, biking, and whatnot.

Speaking of whatnot: I helped Mrs 40's uncle pull this boulder out of the hill at their house. They're putting in a driveway so her uncle can park a camper behind the house.

This is the boulder:



We pulled it out with shovels, some pipes, and a 2wd pickup truck. And some beer.

Check out the hole the boulder came out of... This is Mrs 40s uncle standing in there:



More posts next week...

-40.