We knew we were in for a real adventure when Pave held her hand infront of her face, four fingers raised, and warned, "Don't cross the channel today.  Very windy and four meter waves!" 

"4 meters," I thought, "That's not so bad..." until I remembered that I had to multiply by 3 to get to feet. Woah. Sara and I glanced at each other with angst: 

Our big ambitions to make the crossing to Kolocep Island, one of the 13 Elafiti Islands, were squashed. We would not "discover its blue caves, impressive cliffs and reefs, sandy beaches, romantic villages and pleasant walks," as the rental company had so eloquently described. Click Read More to see where we ended up and some photos of walking around the city walls in the ancient city of Dubrovnik!

This afternoon, Elizabeth and I cancelled 3 other plans to enjoy the unusually warm and sunny November afternoon in kayaks. We borrowed a couple boats from the Windhappers kayak club and paddled around in the canals nearby... 

Click below for photos of the menagerie, scary plants, and weapons we encountered along the way (how's that for a cliff hanger?)... 

Every year, the Windhappers Kayak/Canoe Club celebrates the end of summer paddling season and the beginning of winter paddling with a short paddle and campfire in a nearby park. The Windhappers Kanovereniging (windchasers kayak/canoe club) is a paddling club based in Den Haag (the Hague) in the Netherlands. Every Wednesday evening, members gather at the swanky clubhouse to either (1) practice kayak polo, (2) go for an evening paddle, or (3) loiter around the bar. Elizabeth and I visited a few weeks ago and participated in item #3. I asked at least 5 people how the club works, and how an experienced member can join and use the equipment. They seemed baffled by the fact that:

1. we are young females - most of the club seems to be seniors and 14 year old boys,
2. we're interested in multiple types of kayaking - most members seems to strongly affiliate with one category (sea kayaking, touring, whitewater, or polo), 
3. I wanted to kayak now that it was "winter" (i.e. <70 degrees and not sunny every day), 
4. and the usual "why do you speak Dutch if you're American" response.  
   

Click below to read more about our first club impressions! 

This will be a brief one... Friday was (likely) my last day of fieldwork at my job - I have 5 weeks left now, so things are starting to wrap up (or at least that's what I'm pretending). We are working (with a few other agencies/companies) on an oyster/eelgrass pilot restoration project off the coast of San Rafael (project website, recent article in the SF Gate). ESA (my company) is monitoring the physical processes like changes in topography, waves, and also water quality. On Friday we conducted a site-wide bathymetric survey that we will be comparing with a pre-project survey to see how the oyster beds may be affecting regional sediment processes.

We used a GPS/depth sounder system strapped on our sylishly-camo field kayak to do the survey. I haven't had a chance to calculate exactly how far we kayaked, but we paddled east and west and north and south across the site for about 4 hours. It was exhausting, but we finished just in time to return the equipment to the rental place. It was also just in time to head to San Francisco and meet up with Doug and his friends to watch the Giant's game from outside the stadium.

Feeling somewhat intimidated by the Pacific Ocean, I signed up for a Surf Zone class by California Canoe and Kayak. It's a paddling shop with a number of locations in the Bay Area, including Oakland (about 5 mins from my house) and Half Moon Bay. 

I was one of three students in the class. According to the instructor, the surf was perfect for learning. The class was focused on handling your kayak in the surf zone: launching and landing safely, punching through breaking waves to get out past the surf zone, and side surfing to avoid getting flipped when the waves turn you sideways.