Sea Kayaking in Abel Tasman

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Well I have another entry on the computer at the homestay I'm currently in that will get posted tomorrow morning. I'm waiting to meet Kim, who I kayaked with in Doubtful Sound. I ended up in Mapua which is where she lives.

Abel Tasman

I signed on for a 3 day sea kayak adventure in Abel Tasman. Abel Tasman is very popular and I've been hearing about it since I arrived. Although I was a little bit leary about going to somewhere that might have thousands of other kayaks on the water the lure of golden sand beaches, swimming, camping, and seals was just too tempting.

I went with the Sea Kayak company located in Moteuka. They only take groups 8 or less. We had 8. Three couples, myself, and another man who was traveling solo. Rose was our guide for the three days. We set off in the am and drove to the put in. We loaded up our 2 person kayaks and set off across the Marahua Bay to Abel Tasman Park. We had the wind at our backs. What a treat. Seems like I'm really good at getting headwinds. We were able to make it quite a ways and went to Bark Bay. There we set up tent away from the main camping area farther back in the woods. It was great. Quiet. We had a big fireplace and a picnic table.

The plan was to base out of the camp. Tomorrow instead of packing up and moving to another location we would leave our gear and take light kayaks to Tonga Island Marine reserve and paddle around the island and bays along the coast.

We all opted in for the catered option. I didn't want to have to plan my meals. I wanted to spend my time exploring. We arrived at Bark Bay around 3pm. AFter unloading all our gear and setting up camp we headed back down to the beach and went for a swim. It was a pretty warm day. Not real hot because of a sea breeze. The water while not warm wasn't freezing cold. Abel Tasman is like a tropical paradise but not quite. Not quite warm water or tropical heat. The color of the sand and water makes you feel like you are lying on the sand on some Mexico coastline. So I went swimming. Once I was in it was warm and I spent some time swimming in the cool blue green waters. How perfect. I was hoping for good weather and fun here on the last leg of my trip.

I got out and got cold. I hurried back up to camp and changed in too warm clothes. Well, not quite warm enough outside. Rose, our guide was great. You could tell she had been guiding for awhile and had everything down. She was also very easy going and really fun to paddle with. She was also a great cook. We had an great catered lunch and then she cooked up a great dish of spegetti, vegetables, and meat balls. I don't know what it is about salt air and kayaking but we were all really hungry by dinner. Dinner was followed by a native kiwi dessert- Pavlova. It was also very good. Although Rose didn't bake it (o:

We hung out and talked into the evening. The group dynamics were great. We were all at a similar fitness level and went the same speed. That is a good mix along with fun personalities. There was a couple from Scotland who made sure to wear lots of sunscreen to protect their European white skin. Another couple from the UK. The other couple was a woman from the UK or South Africa and her husband was from New Zealand but they lived in Hong Kong. Then there was Kathar, my paddling partner who is originally from India but now lives in Madison Wisconsin.

We headed off to bed fairly early. Three of us were up at sunrise to take photos and one to try fishing. Then we had breakfast and set off for a day in the Marine Reserve. We paddled up the coastline on an almost perfectly calm sea to Tonga Island. Then we headed around the island and saw lots of seals, some ganets, Cormorants, and Oyster catchers. So I finally saw the elusive blue eyed penquin swimming along side the island. The penguin actually got about 6 feet from my boat. I whipped out my camera and captured that little creature on my camera. Finally after all the attempts to get up at 5 am to see them I saw one while paddling along in a sea kayak. We saw more baby seals, visited the baby seal Kindergarden. Rose refered to it as that because that is where the baby seals are being taught how to swim and do seal things.

From there we headed up to Shag Harbor which is a wonderful inlet that winds around back into the forest. Kathar and I paddled all the way to the end where a small stream comes in from the hillside. There is small islands and crazy limbed Beech trees.

Then we paddled back along the coastline taking our time to enjoy the rock formations and seeing more seals. We had some seals swim around our boats and one swam right underneath our boat.

The scenery is a mixture of evergreens, tropical trees, beech trees and large ferns along with other native bush. The hills are dark green against the golden sand beaches and blue green water. The forest here is drier because they don't get as much rain on the north coast.

We headed back to camp. There was hardly any wind so it was easy paddling. It was definitely a perfect day for swimming. So when we got back 4 of us headed way out to find deep water and spent quite a bit of time swimming. The hot weather made the water feel warmer and more inviting today. I was actually able to lay about the white sandy beach. I told eveyone I felt like a seal and just wanted to hangout and lounge in the sun for awhile. Who needed to be in a hurry to run off on a hike when the beach was so inviting and the day so hot. It was a relaxing day. We had another great dinner- a Thai Curry vegetable dish over rice.

The next day we paddled out. Only one of our swimmers went swimming at lunch as it was much cooler today. The wind had kicked up and we had a pretty brisk head wind coming back. IN fact we had to work pretty hard to cross the bay to get to our take out. The wind was blasting and the water was really choppy. I guess the group after us hiked out and the water taxi picked up their kayaks. Apparently that does happen from time to time. The current and winds get to strong to make it across the last bay. I wouldn't expect anything less that at least one head wind (o: It felt good though to manage to paddle in those conditions and feel totally at ease with it. I think its time to start learning more about tides and currents so I can branch out into kayaking more.

We headed back to base, with a stop at the Bottle Store on the way. Someone bought a case of beer for the group and we headed back to unpack, take showers, and for some to drink a lot of beer (o:

I took a shower, made reservations at Moana Cottage, and after a while headed off to my next stay. A peaceful boat house cottage on the Mapua Estuary. I slept soundly last night in a comfortable, cushy bed. Today I sat in the hot tub for about an hour trying to work someo of tension out of my overworked arms and relaxing. Its been a great few days.

All for now.

Backyard Adventure Girl

Lisa

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Comments

[John Merritt]

Cool!
Sounds like real living! Good you stop and take it easy too, sometimes! I really enjoy reading your blogs!