Blog - The Naked Kayaker

Reunion of the California Kayakers (Time Capsule)

11/3/2018

Lindsey, Eddie, Karen, and Doug (Kathi and Alice in the background) on our lunch break, with a view of the San Francisco skyline.

Back in October 2016, after two years living in the Netherlands and Belgium, I made my first trip back to the US. My first stop was San Francisco, to visit friends and colleagues and my favorite sites around SF Bay and the open coast. Some of my favorite California kayaking buddies and I spent an afternoon on the water in Sausalito. Two years have passed since this trip, so this post will be more photos than words...

Snapshots from Canoeing and BBQing in the Biesbosch (Time Capsule)

10/22/2018

Arriving at the lunch spot!

Last May, Anais and Anton invited us to join them an a couple Canadian friends on a canoeing day trip and BBQ in the Biesbosch. Fully aware of the culinary abilities of A&A, we enthusiastically said Yes!

"Patatje met tocht" aka "french fries and a paddle" to Rotterdam centrum

3/24/2018

This photo really captures the essence of this paddle!

As I pack my bags for a paddling trip tomorrow, I realize I've forgotten to finish this post about a recent trip to Rotterdam centrum. A couple weeks ago Joachim organized a relaxing/low-key trip from the kayaking club on Kralingse Plas to the center of Rotterdam. We took a different route into Rotterdam than in previous trips. We saw a number of iconic Rotterdam sites, and ended up in the heart of the city during the peak of the Saturday market. â€‹Read on for a short post with plenty of photos from a wintery urban paddle!

A misty and mysterious paddle in Deep Cove, Vancouver (Time Capsule)

3/17/2018

A sailboat in the mist and Henk paddling in the background, in Deep Cove, Vancouver

This is a "Time Capsule" post, meaning it describes a trip from the past which never made it to the blog. This post is short on text but has some of my favorite ever paddling photos! Enjoy :)

Our second day of Vancouver paddling, in October 2016, took us to Deep Cove (click here to see the first paddle). We rented boats from Deep Cove Kayak (at the time, 72 CAD for the day), and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of their rentals. After they heard I was an experienced kayaker, the manager said he had a boat I might like to try. He came back with a beautiful white (carbon fiber?) sea kayak from a brand I hadn't heard of before - Sterling Kayaks, made in Bellingham, Washington. I paddled the "Illusion" model. Apparently they go for $6000+! Price tag aside, it was a wonderful boat to paddle. A girl can dream, right?

Kiwis, crisps, lagoons, and sunburns in Bay of Islands (New Zealand #1)

1/29/2018

View from the hike up at Mangahawea Bay on Motorua Island

Sooooo I never mentioned it ahead of time, but Henk and I just spent a month in New Zealand!! Get ready - for those of us who have (gradually and begrudgingly) become accustomed to Dutch scenery, it may take a bit of adjusting to the crazy beautiful, varying, dramatic scenery of New Zealand. We went paddling three times, so I'm planning to share three posts with you, and I'll sneak in some of my favorite non-kayaking photos at the end of each post.

For our first destination, I present you: the Bay of Islands, in the northern tip of New Zealand (-35 deg N)...

Surprise! Kayaking in December is warmer than biking in December...

12/2/2017

Two days ago I sent a message to the Never Dry club WhatsApp group to ask if anyone wanted to go paddling this weekend. The guilt of not using my new boat yet was building up (busy weekends!), and there was no rain in the forecast. But with temperatures hovering right around freezing, I was secretly hoping no one would respond, so I'd have an excuse to stay in my cozy warm apartment.

Circumnavigating Hompelvoet Island in Grevelingen Lake

7/31/2017

View from Ouddorp harbor, the launch site.

Just a short post today to share a few photos and stats from my first trip to Grevelingen lake - one of the four (former) estuaries in Zeeland, the most southwestern province of the Netherlands. Read on to find out why my face was caked in salt at the end of the day...

Twee rondjes Kralingse Plas; Two laps around Kralingse Lake + History!

4/27/2017

Storm clouds hovering above the swans on Kralingse plas.

... view from the other side of the lake, towards Rotterdam and clearer skies.

The Kralingse Plas is a ~100 ha (~250 acre) lake northeast of Rotterdam centrum. One trip around the square-ish lake is approximately 4 km (2.5 miles), depending how close you stick to the shoreline. The lake is also, conveniently, a 10 minute bike ride from my new apartment, and home to Never Dry, my new kayaking club. Read on to learn about the fascinating history of this seemingly simple lake.

Colleagues-turned-canoeists go for a paddle in Lokeren

7/7/2016

The Antea Group kayaking crew sporting our newly earned t-shirts. Jan, Nena, Raquel, Anna, and Inma.

Last weekend, five enthusiastic Antea Group employees embarked on a Sunday morning canoe trip in Lokeren. The company I work for, Antea Group, has an internal organization called Antea Group Sport that supports employees in organizing "sporting" events. Since I started a year ago, they've organized runs, triathlons, volleyball, soccer, mountain biking, cycling, and even badminton. I decided that some more watery events were necessary*, so I went about organizing a kayaking trip, destination: Lokeren. It's a convenient location for people living in Antwerp and Gent. First, I did a scouting trip to check out the conditions.

*Disclaimer: I was also motivated by a need to find/develop paddling buddies here in Belgium, and the awesome t-shirt you get the first time you participate in an Antea sporting event (see above). :)

Cliffs, caves, beaches, and sunburns in Les Calanques, Southern France

11/23/2015

Emily paddling past a typical Calanques limestone cliff.

Les Calanques is a 20-km stretch of coast between Marseille and Cassis on the Mediterranean coast of France. The coastline features steep white limestone cliffs interspersed by narrow inlets backed by secluded cobble beaches (only accessible by boat). In July, Emily, Alice, and I went for an afternoon kayaking trip to check out the calanques of Port Miou, Port-Pin, En-Vau, and L'Oule. Click to read more!