Cruise: Day 3, Malaga

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Today we arrived in Malaga and boarded a bus to take us to the beach for our kayak trip. We traveled an hour to the beautiful beach town of Nerja and found a little beach dotted with palm trees. It was a blue bird day, mild and sunny.

We got outfitted with life vests and paddles and then carried our kayaks down to the water's edge. After a brief lesson, we climbed into our 2-person kayak and started paddling out to sea. I was in front and as we pulled away from shore, I felt the boat tip and suddenly, we were both in the water. Damn! It was cold! I swam back to shore trying to catch my breath and kept getting knocked down by waves as I tried to walk out. I ended up doing a very undignified crawl on all fours to get out of the water.

Once out of the water, I quickly warmed up in the sun. Back into the boat to try again, but we could not get balanced. Apparently, these boats were not made to carry Large Americans and anytime Bruce moved the boat became unbalanced and we tipped over. Back to shore once again, and they brought out a bigger kayak. Back into the new boat and back into the water, but we were still feeling very unbalanced. Anytime Bruce moved, we wobbled precariously.

The guide decided it would not be a good idea for us to go out. So, we missed out on the tour, but they felt very bad for us and bought us beer at the beach front cafe. We actually had a very nice time sitting in the sun and watching the water. It was a little slice of heaven. We had a little stroll down the beach, then sat and chilled some more.

We returned to our meeting point to find the tour was running late and many people were not back yet.

The weather had turned a bit - the sun was still out, but the wind was picking up and the water was becoming more choppy. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing in an easterly direction and the kayakers were paddling back in a westerly direction - into wind. We saw a couple of jet skis go out in the direction the kayak tour had taken and a cop came down to the beach. Half the group was still out. The tour leader ran down to the water and came back with a couple of people and immediately wrapped them in blankets and laid them down in the sun. The last of the group trickled in, one person had to be carried.

Then the paramedics showed up. One person was in the ambulance for a good hour, and two more were wrapped in cotton blankets and reflective thermal blankets to get their temperature back up. It was a litle uncertain for a while if they wold go to the hospital, but they were finally released and everyone was OK.

What happened is that a couple of the kayaks turned over because the waves had become so strong and they could not get them righted again. They were in the water for at least 20 minutes and had to get assistance to get back to shore. The conditions apparently changed very rapidly, people got tired, and we were all amateurs and not used to the conditions. Even the people who did not tip over had a hard time paddling back against the current. I heard one of the boats was taking on water and was impossible to paddle.

All-in-all, I am glad we were not able to go out! We definitely had a nicer time sitting on the beach sipping brew. Unfortunately, I don't have many photos because when we took a dip, so did the camera, and the waterproof housing for the camera...wasn't.

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