How I Kayaked in the Pacific and Lived to Tell the Tale

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I’ll be honest. That headline is an attention grabber. Although, if you had asked me before I went kayaking in the Pacific, I would have told you that I was a bit scared. And just a little terrified.

The reason? Sharks. (One of my three greatest fears, in case you missed it).

When I was invited a few weeks ago to go glamping (glamping = glamorous camping, although I think I missed the “glamorous” part) with a team of Toyota Women from TWIN, I had to make some serious choices for my morning and afternoon activities.

Ocean kayaking, hiking to see some llamas, hot stone massage, bicycle tour, driving around at my own pace sightseeing…

I had some tough choices to make. And I wanted to put myself just a little bit out of my comfort zone. So I chose the kayaking.

I also chose to drive around and sightsee in the afternoon. I had to balance out the adrenaline rush in the AP with a serotonin rush in the PM.

I told my 5 year old son about my ocean kayaking choice and he looked at me with his gorgeous, yet pleading, blue eyes and said, “Mommy, please make sure you come back.”

I knew what he was talking about.

SHARKS.

My only hope was that the moment was some ominous foreshadowing and was simply a little boy verbalizing what both he and I fear most… the Great White shark.

But I got over it. And I went kayaking. And I have the video to prove it.

And I walked away from this trip with a few realizations I didn’t know or had forgotten…

• Sometimes it’s good to overcome a little fear.
• Sea kelp tastes pretty good straight out of the ocean.
• If there is a one in ten chance someone in your party will flip their kayak, make sure that get it out of the way quickly (thank you, Leila and Lizz). It improves your odds.
• When choosing kayak partners, make sure you have someone bossy in the back (me) and someone who is okay with temporarily being bossed around (thank you, Lindsay).
• Synthetic clothes really are the best for water activities.
• After two hours of paddling, nothing on my body hurt. But yoga the next weekend made every muscle in my body ache. What gives?
• If you think your kayaking guides will be stereotypical surfer dudes from California, you would be right. (I kept wanting to call our guide Cody by his real name – Jeff Spicoli)

Thanks to Santa Barbara Adventure Company who put up with a bunch of squealing women all in the name of adventure. You guys really did rock. Except when you abandoned me and Lindsay as we paddled way behind everyone. But I like to think it’s because you had full confidence in our paddling abilities.

Disclosure: I was selected for participation in the TWIN community through a program with Clever Girls Collective. I did not receive any compensation for writing this post, or payment in exchange for participating. The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the views of the Toyota.