My first Kayaking experience

During a hot summer, I was in Virginia Beach for some office work.... Wierd but true. After several weekends of roaming the beach, I had planned on a trip to Philly where my cousin (Sambar) lives. We both fancied the idea of making a camping/hiking trip together. Better yet, he found a place to Kayak and camp.

Kayaking in the Delaware river:
Sambar had done it once before and convinced me that it is fun. I dont know to swim - not even in calm waters. I had been on 4 day rafting trips back in India on the Ganges, so i was a bit complacent. With life jackets you could never drown and i can swim well if i am floating ;-)
My more civilized friend tagged along too, but he didnt know much about the unruly cousins.

Plan was simple - kayak down the Delaware river for about 20 miles (upto Dingman's Ferry take-out). So we left on Saturday afternoon and had to camp somewhere on the river banks before completing the final leg. You cannot expect all the luxuries while camping as you can take only the bare necessities in a Kayak. Overloading is definitely not advisable.

So we set out with Sambar helping my friend with the kayaking techniques. It was pretty late when we started so we had to row fast to get to the camping areas. Most of them were taken, so we had to really paddle hard in search of a vacant campsite. When it was almost dark, we found one and to capture the fort I rushed and of course slipped in the algae. Unhurt, but wet i ran up and was delighted to find the campsite empty. Soon the tent was pitched. But it was unusually cold for a summer day (35 deg F). With no change of clothes i had to borrow a T-shirt from Sambar. We lit the fire soon and were all over it. After some tea and eggs, Naan with pickle and chutney we went inside to sleep though none could sleep well due to sore limbs and the bitter cold temperature.

Next morning we lit another fire for a good warm-up. My friend then announced his inability to lift one of his hands and immense pain in his shoulders. So we left him to relax on the banks on the next takeout point and continued towards Dingman's ferry. Full of energy we paddled well and fast through the rapids and also enjoyed the nice scenary. It was then getting too hot and the river widened and stopped flowing too. After some rigorous paddling through the still waters we reached Dingman's Ferry totally exhausted. Now we have to get back to the starting point to pick our cars and head home.

After we reached home 5 hours later, Sambar's friend had to go home. We ordered a Pizza. As soon as the Pizza was delivered, Sambar got a call from his friend that his car just stalled in the middle of the highway. He managed to steer it off to the shoulder. He was already tired and needed help. So we decided to drive to the spot and of course we took the Pizza. Soon we reached and he had called the towing truck. So we decided, what the heck lets just eat. We had Pizza on the highway shoulder. Once we regained energy, we tried to restart the car just to see if it could be a simple battery problem. To our amusement, the car started fine !!! So off we went to our respective homes after a nice highway dinner.

What an experience it was. After our rafting experience in India, this was the most eventful/adventurous trip i have had.

Hoping for more such adventures.......

Adios