Today was our first "real" kayaking day trip during training. I mentioned
it briefly previously, when we had to
cancel because of weather. But today was the day! It dawned bright, clear,
and early. The weather turned out to be perfect, a solitary clear day
between giant storms. Tides were fairly small and fine for our plan. In
summary, it was an ideal day for a kayaking day trip!
A few highlights:
To train our "guide eyes," returning guides would mess with us. Someone might untuck a key line from their bow. Another guide might unbuckle a hatch or tuck their "oops loop" under their skirt. Several people flipped their paddles over or paddled in an unsafe way. On one memorable occasion, a guide kayaked for around two minutes without a PFD before we noticed and told her to pop that back on. By the end of the day, I felt way more comfortable doing a head-to-toe check on a boat to see if things are going as planned.
It was our first time navigating Tonsina, an alluvial fan in the area. Alluvial fans tend to produce wide areas of very shallow water, which can lead to capsizes or other issues. As a result, we make a point of avoiding it by the use of waypoints. We successfully made it out and back, so I'd say that navigation was okay on the whole.
We spotted a humpback whale as we were returning to Lowell Point in the afternoon. We'd seen it off in the distance a few times, but we also got to spot it up close when it came towards our group. The majesty and elegance of its fluke were breathtaking. I loved the beautiful moment after it dove, when everyone fell completely silent in awe.