So I went kayaking in the ocean the other day...paid $45 for the pleasure and it was worth every penny. Got to meet Krista and Nate, two locals who work for Sea For Yourself tours. Krista is 23 and speaks like a marine biologist, though she holds no graduate degree. And why should she? As she told us, most of her knowledge comes from growing up in the area. Nate was maybe 15 or 16, and just as capable and friendly as can be.
I'm in a group of 6, a family from Kentucky, and my friend with whom I am traveling. We get a quick lesson, and head right out into the ocean. I'm wearing a wetsuit for the first time in my life and I feel like a superhero or a motorcycle racer or something. The ocean is calm and it really isn't that much different, risk-wise, than Lake Michigan or Duck Lake at midnight. As we go Krista gives us information about the ecosystems and the wild life. Because we are actually in the kayaks out on the water we can see bright orange starfish in the caves, brown and white pelicans, a sea otter sleeping floating on its back in the kelp beds, elephant seals, gulls, cormorants, hawks, and much more.
Of course this leads me off into tourism thoughts. Why do we seek the wild? Why do we visit places and seek out the animals and plants and environments, not even to touch, but to see smell and hear? It seems as though some have a checklist (saw that, did that, smelled that, good, let's go home.) I don't know what to expect so I don't have a checklist, but somehow I feel proud that I saw these animals in their habitat and not at a zoo or something. What is that pride about?
5 comments:
my favorite part of kayaking is how quiet it is. watching otters or seeing starfish is probably easier because of the silence of the mode of transportation and because your senses are less distracted by noises.
I'd say that the desire isn't necessarily a tourist thing (depends on the person, I suppose), than it is an ontological thing, some basic part of us instinctively connecting with Nature, like seeing like.
Your trip sounds beautiful.
That is so true about kayaking. It is so quiet. So unobtrusive yet so directly connected to the water. Go sometime at night if you can.
yes, that seems right to me, that we seek outside of ourselves a way to relate what is inside of ourselves. When we experience wilderness there are elements of danger and lack of control, and that part of ourselves is recognized.
Yes, exactly!
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