Laurie Ford
Photo courtesy www.laurieford.net
I actually took up sea kayaking because of the thrill of paddling in big ocean swells, and riding out seas whipped up by strong winds. Tasmania is in the path of the "Roaring Forties" and so regularly has windy conditions - 20 to 30 knots is not unusual.
But one of the other joys of sea kayaking is seeing the beautiful creatures in, and close by, the sea.
The clean white and yellow Gannets are unbelievable as they fold their wings and plummet like an arrow into the sea from a great height. They can be seen all around Tasmania.
Terns act in a similar manner, although tend to flutter more as they dive. We watched a huge flock up the Kennebec River in the USA.
"Just past the mouth of Back River we were paddling alongside a very shallow area which must have had a big school of very small fish, because there was a big flock of terns just continually falling out of the sky into the water - making a feast of the fish that could not escape into deep water."
And the Albatross, gliding over the ocean swells with never a flap of their wings are a magnificent sight. They quite often come and circle round over head for a while - checking you out.
And the Mutton birds - thousands and thousands of them flowing past like the smoke from some huge bushfire. Many times I've watched for 20 minutes at a stream of birds going past.
There are far too many birds to name them all - the Fairy Penguin as it comes ashore and walks close to your campsite, the Pelicans, the Black Swan, and of course the Sea Eagle. This beautiful big white eagle can be seen all round the coast of Tasmania, perched on large dead trees near the waters edge. In fact I once was very close to the shore (a few metres) and came round a sharp point to see an eagle on a tree about 20 metres away. I'm not sure who had the greatest shock - I nearly fell out of my kayak as this great creature spread its wings and very rapidly flew away in the opposite direction.
Whales and Dolphins are the biggest thrill on a trip. To be close to a pod of 7 or 8 whales as they all breech one after the other as they did on one trip off the coast of NSW is something never to be forgotten. The noise as they fall back into the water with a great "whack". Or the sight of a huge tail high in the air in front of us as we paddled into Fortescue Bay one time.
Ever been in the water swimming with a totally wild dolphin at an island in Bass Strait? I have. It came in close to the beach and swam up and down till I got in the water. As I swam along the beach it swam along just in front of me - it was near the bottom and was upside down looking up at me. I swam for several hundred metres along the beach, and then turned around to swim back. It turned around too and swam back along underneath me. What a joy. At times it would scoop up a bit of kelp round its neck like a scarf, and then toss it off - just playing.
And many many times while paddling along the coast there will suddenly be dolphins swimming alongside, turning over and looking up at you - and riding the bow wave of the kayak.
This is from a report written by a fellow lady paddler on a Flinders Island trip.
"The treat of the trip happened between the Cape and Roydon Island when seven dolphins crossed our path. Laurie said they'd play if you interact so he turned and followed them. Soon I could see them surfacing around his boat and eventually, when he turned to come back towards me, they came too! They continued on with us a couple of kms until we turned in to shore. It was like choreography as they escorted us along, surfacing on both sides and in front, passing under the boat with their white bellies up, playing along with us. It was magic when four simultaneously arched out of the water right next to the bow of my kayak."
Sea kayaking on the ocean is magic.