Hawksbill Sea Turtle

With a serviceable kayak comes a lot of new diving territory. Well, a lot of new diving territory and some new obstacles to overcome. Transporting the kayak, my diving equipment, drinking water, a paddle, fifty meters of rope and an anchor several hundred yards to the beach is the first challenge. There's no real trick there, other than keeping things organized. It's just a tough, awkward walk with a boat on your head, a bag on your back, and everything else hanging from wherever it can. I'm fairly sure that it looks as goofy as it feels.

The challenge doesn't end when the kayak's in the water, either. There's still the whole business of actually learning how to sea kayak, as well as anchoring at sea and securing the rope, the paddle and my bag. Making sure the craft is properly anchored has been a source of considerable anxiety. More often than not I just follow the anchor down and make sure it's got a solid grip on something. Swimming back to shore after losing a kayak to the current would be difficult and depressing to say the least.

Las Tortugas

Anyhow, a couple adjustable straps, a few reasonable knots, some trial and error and a little experience has brought everything together, more or less. The extra diving territory has been well worth the effort, and all of the little chores and tricks associated with each trip are becoming easier with time - perhaps even developing a charm of their own.

During a fairly quick two hour trip to Las Tortugas, the small islands offshore from Coco, I was able to spend time with some scary-big Needle Fish as well as get the photo of a Hawksbill sea turtle that's been eluding me for months. Unfortunately I ended up with some sort of mild elbow injury, but I'm not counting on more than a few days' setback. All in all, not so bad.