Day’s Total Distance: 4nM
Breakfast: granola/cereal, powdered milk, an apple
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| Morning veil |
I feel shitty because we’re barely progressing. This morning’s paddle only stretched from 8-10:30am and we’re averaging about one nautical mile (nM) an hour. Ouch. Jaime calculated that we could easily do about 10nM a day to get us around the island in a comfortable 10-12 days with room to stop the odd extra night at different beaches if we wanted. So far in two and a half days, we’ve done 9nM. So of course, I’m feeling like a total incapable dead weight slowing us down. The fact that I’m not drinking near enough water either, well...it doesn’t help my mood, my energy or my bodily systems.
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| Boat decor |
We stop for our afternoon break on the most stunning beach yet. As soon as we’re out of the boats, we end up having a lil’ pep talk as I express my frustration and Jamie all too understandingly affirms that it’s simply a ‘2nd day hump’.
“What can we do to improve your paddling efficiency and your energy?” he asks. We go over my technique and agree that I’m doing things just fine...I just need to get stronger.
He reminds me again that as long as we make it back by our intended date that we gave Michael, he’s not here to rush around the island in as few days as we can, but rather take our sweet time about it and enjoy the journey...but still - ten nautical miles a day!? I need to pick up my pace. I want a stronger back, I need to drop my shoulders when paddling (er, make that all the time) and I need to clear up the constipation that has set in since before we arrived on the island. (I’ve come to realize that along with my Ayurvedic constitution making me prone to this condition, all the moving around and stress on the body from traveling can very easily lead to this issue for me, reminding me to stop and slow down my meals and make them myself rather than eating at restaurants or on-the-go when traveling)
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| A lonnnnnng beach for exploring |
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| Lunch. And dinner. And snacks. Nature's bounty |
Lunch: fresh coconuts and leftover chocolate cake (hey, at least there’s fresh healthy coconuts in there!)
After a long nap under the shade of the palm trees from which Jaime climbed and collected several coconuts for us to gorge on for the afternoon, we awoke around 3:30pm as the heat finally started to back off. This was the hottest day yet and the breeze was an oven even in the shade but somehow we managed a few moments of shut eye.
We walked a long way down the beach spotting scarlet macaws, a deer, and a scorpion even. We came to the end and found there was another estuary as we suspected. I had the longest bathe in the fresh water while Jamie was further away trying his luck at fishing again. All of a sudden I’m startled out of preening my feathers to see Jamie hooting and hollering down the beach. He’s holding up a big fish and grinning from ear to ear! Yahooooo!!! I grab the camera and try my hand at using his digital SLR to take some congratulatory shots, hoping not to screw up the big moment! He’s caught a nice 15lb cubera snapper - that should do for a couple meals! As the waxing crescent moon lights up the wave crests, we cooked our snapper with all the fresh coconut water and chopped up chunks of coconut over a fire and I swear I’ll never have better fish again in my life.
I’m still feeling at a loss for how to contribute most days. I find that if I can’t do, I ask. He’s so quick to do the things that need doing (there’s that well-honed routine I spoke of before) that I’m left feeling a tad useless.
“Jaime, did you remember to...”
“Already done”
Sigh. Ok.
And so part of me wants to jump in and say ‘hey! lemme do it this time‘ and part of me just wants to step back and simply observe how he does it, feeling like I’m back in my kayak guide course again.
Jaime has not only been professionally guiding for years, he’s also someone who does a lot of this kind of thing on his own time. His last biggest sojourn was an attempt to paddle the length of his native New Zealand last winter, with one other person and at the end, on his own. So I feel it’s ok to just absorb what he has to teach me, that I’m in capable hands. Of course he later admitted too that as a male, he has this tendency to want to prove that he can provide, y’know? Sure sure, I get it. No need to prove it Jamie! :)
We walked a long way down the beach spotting scarlet macaws, a deer, and a scorpion even. We came to the end and found there was another estuary as we suspected. I had the longest bathe in the fresh water while Jamie was further away trying his luck at fishing again. All of a sudden I’m startled out of preening my feathers to see Jamie hooting and hollering down the beach. He’s holding up a big fish and grinning from ear to ear! Yahooooo!!! I grab the camera and try my hand at using his digital SLR to take some congratulatory shots, hoping not to screw up the big moment! He’s caught a nice 15lb cubera snapper - that should do for a couple meals! As the waxing crescent moon lights up the wave crests, we cooked our snapper with all the fresh coconut water and chopped up chunks of coconut over a fire and I swear I’ll never have better fish again in my life.
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| What a bathtub we've found! Perfect for preening my feathers ;) |
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| Jaime's proud catch...and what a catch he is! ;) |
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| Minutes away from being cooked up for dinner (look away, my vegan friends) |
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| Beautiful cubera snapper |
I’m still feeling at a loss for how to contribute most days. I find that if I can’t do, I ask. He’s so quick to do the things that need doing (there’s that well-honed routine I spoke of before) that I’m left feeling a tad useless.
“Jaime, did you remember to...”
“Already done”
Sigh. Ok.
And so part of me wants to jump in and say ‘hey! lemme do it this time‘ and part of me just wants to step back and simply observe how he does it, feeling like I’m back in my kayak guide course again.
Jaime has not only been professionally guiding for years, he’s also someone who does a lot of this kind of thing on his own time. His last biggest sojourn was an attempt to paddle the length of his native New Zealand last winter, with one other person and at the end, on his own. So I feel it’s ok to just absorb what he has to teach me, that I’m in capable hands. Of course he later admitted too that as a male, he has this tendency to want to prove that he can provide, y’know? Sure sure, I get it. No need to prove it Jamie! :)
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| Sun starts to set on the estuary where we bathed and caught dinner. Thanks Mama Nature, once again |
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| Post-Bath Glory. Another glorious day to celebrate! |
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Photos and edits courtesy of Jaime Sharp and Allie Carroll
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