Blog - The Naked Kayaker

The most beautiful place I've ever kayaked: Geirangerfjord in Norway

6/11/2015

Nena and Bailey kayak in possibly the most beautiful place on earth and almost get run over by a cruise ship.

Amstel River through the Center of Amsterdam

11/19/2014

After enjoying the Rotte River trip described on Johan's Kayak Site, I decided to contact Johan himself. I sent him an email with some questions about kayaking in the Netherlands and to see if he wanted to go for a paddle. Apparently I'm not the first person to have this idea, because he later mentioned that two other avid kayakers (a New Yorker and Californian) had inquired similarly. We took advantage of one of the last sunny weekends and paddled around the center of Amsterdam. Over the course of the day, we paddled most of the three routes described on his Amsterdam route page.

Click "Read More" to hear about the trip and see some classic Amsterdam canal photos.

Keller Beach 'round Point San Pablo to the Chevron Refinery

4/7/2014

Dilapidated buildings, west shore of Point San Pablo.

After our nature-drenched paddle on Saturday, Jeff and I stayed close to Berkeley and checked out the developed shoreline of Richmond in San Francisco Bay. After kayak polo we loaded ourselves + our wet butts into Tess (my blue Subaru) and drove 15 minutes up I-80 to Miller Knox Regional Shoreline. Some of my colleagues are working on a project to restore a pond in the park, so we went for a brief stroll around the pond to take photos. The pond used to be a coastal lagoon/inlet before a railroad was built along the entire shoreline, cutting off connection with the Bay and converting the tidal lagoon to a scummy pond.

After the stroll, we parked at Keller Beach, just north of Miller Knox, to launch our boats. A park attendant pulled over in his truck to inform us that we were launching in a very inconvenient location. Rather than take his advice to launch further south, we stubbornly carried our boats down and up the large hill, including multiple flights of stairs. We do this partly for exercise, right?

Somes Sound (Mt. Desert Island Day #2)

7/28/2010

Just a quick post for the second paddle Ben and I did in Mt. Desert Island a couple weekends ago! We paddled north from Southwest Harbor into Somes Sound, riding the tide on the way in, and paddling a little bit against it on the way back. We stopped for lunch in Sargent Cove on the east side of the sound. On the way back, a thick fog seemed to be rolling in from the ocean, so rather than paddling around the island at the end of the sound, we headed back into the harbor.

Click "Read More" to see a map of the route.

Seal Cove and around Bartlett Island (Mount Desert Island Day #3)

7/20/2010

Here is part 3 of 3 (Yes, the days are out of order, but I guess that's just going to be a trend in this blog), a guest post by Mary Kate Wheeler summarizing our third and final paddle on Mt. Desert Island in Maine.

After a last minute decision to join Nena and Ben's MDI Expedition, I headed east from Warren, Vermont on Friday, arriving at the campsite just minutes after dinner ended. Fortunately, my ever prepared companions dug up some leftovers and even an extra tent to make me feel well at home.

Mist hovered along the coastline as we drove to our launching point on Saturday morning. After hearing a rumor of exceptionally friendly marine life off the western side of the island we chose to paddle out of Seal Cove. Although it seemed to be a popular spot for fishermen and motor boats, the cove provided a nicely sheltered place to launch kayaks.

Our goal of having close and personal encounters with marine mammals was quickly and unexpectedly met...

Maine: Foggy Knubble Bay & Robinhood Cove

7/11/2010

Jeff and I met up in Boothbay, Maine for two days of sea kayaking on the Atlantic Coast. On Day 2 we experienced truly Maine-style conditions, with thick fogs, big tides, drizzle, eerie shipwrecks, quiet bays, and a creamy lobster roll to top it off.

Loons, Bugs, and Bears on Lake Winnipesaukee

7/6/2010

Winnipesaukee is a BIG lake (approximately the same surface area as Cayuga Lake) located just south of the White Mountains in NH. It's a little over an hour from Manchester when the traffic is cooperating.

We (Tina, Brian, and I) spent 4th of July weekend at Chris's condo on Long Island (not the famous one), which stick out into the middle of the lake...

Expedition to Taughannock

5/13/2010

Ben in front of the Myers Point lighthouse, before we made the crossing to Taughannock Falls State Park

One morning Ben and I decided to make the voyage (is that the aqueous version of ‘trek’?) to Taughannock Park, starting at East Shore Park. We were on the foggy water by about 7:30AM.

Slope Day on Seneca Lake

5/7/2010

Ben approaching Hector Falls.

Yep, that’s right… I'm super lame and went kayaking on Slope Day instead of seeing… Drake? Who is that? Slope day is Cornell University's annual end of year party, in which a committee of students chooses a band/singer/rapper (mostly the latter) to play a concert on the steep grassy slope connecting West Campus to the rest of the university.

We (Ben, Rob, Anna, and I) met at the southern tip of Seneca Lake and launched from Lakeside Park in Watkins Glen around 7:30AM. This means my alarm was set for 5:30AM… it was painful. We decided (by “we” I mean Anna, because she is the official decision maker) that since the lake was glassy-calm we would first paddle out in the open and think about exploring the inlet later. So off we went!