Blog - The Naked Kayaker

Spotting ducklings and wild cows on the newly-restored island of Tiengemeten

4/30/2017

Scottish Highland Cows - the largest residents of Tiengemeten. Photo from http://quiltingjeannet.blogspot.nl/ because I couldn't get close enough...

Ducklings peeping along the coast of Tiengemeten.

Tiengemeten, population 10, is an island in the Haringvliet named after its size (tien = 10, gemeten = ancient unit of measurement corresponding to approximately 1 acre). It started out as a sandbar in the Haringvliet estuary (which has since been blocked off from the sea and turned into a freshwater lake), and eventually grew to be an island between 1750 and 1804. After that it underwent all kinds of changes and development. Yesterday, Tom, Amelia, Iede, and I kayaked around it. Read on to see some cool photos of wetland restoration and find out what makes this island unique (from a kayaking and historical perspective)!

First glimpses of the Balearic Islands in Port de Pollença, Mallorca

4/2/2017

Launching off La Gola Beach in Port de Pollença, in the morning when the water was still calm.

I start a new job tomorrow! So I've committed myself to finishing this blog post, since new jobs have a way of taking over. The past five weeks have been a whirlwind between jobs. I went to the US for almost two weeks, moved into my new apartment in Rotterdam (more on that later!), and spent a week adventuring in Mallorca! A good friend of mine, Inma, moved to Mallorca a couple months ago. With her apartment in Palma as a convenient home base, I hopped on buses every morning to explore different sides of the island... Read on to hear about this kayaking oasis!

Dinant Evasion: What happens when you combine a log flume, bumper cars, 7000 kayakers, and a sinking kayak on the River Lesse in Belgium.

9/13/2016

The magical town of Dinant, on the Lesse River in southern Belgium. The kayaking route does not take you past here, so make sure to include a visit to the city in your itinerary! Photo by Rob.

Before you read this post, I want you to know that Dinant and the surrounding areas are really lovely - I've visited twice and had some great biking and hiking experiences. But kayaking was a different flavor, and I feel it should be documented as a warning to any kayakers thinking about paddling here...

As we passed under the big welcome signs at Dinant Evasion, I couldn't help but feel like I was entering an amusement park. We obediently zigzagged through the queue lines to one of the (many) ticket offices. "Do you have your confirmation letter?" asked the ticket lady in broken Dutch (Dinant is in the French-speaking part of Belgium). I fumbled for my phone, hoping the confirmation email was still cached (I still use my US smartphone, so no cellular data for me). Phew, there it was. I've never arrived for a reserved kayak rental and been told that my last name was insufficient for accessing the reservation... Warning Sign #1. Okay, the super commercial website could also have tipped me off (Warning Sign #0)...

How to motivate in a torrential downpour? Pancakes in Utrecht

8/22/2016

This picture best captures the torrential downpour we experienced in the Utrecht countryside.

My friends are real troopers. The forecast warned of intense rain, and that's exactly what we got. But we persevered! From downtown Utrecht to a pancake house about 6.5 km southeast of the city, Sander, Bonnie, and I paddled through almost continuous rain. But the "pancakes," if you can even call them that, were worth the soaking.

Fries from the sky, brewery by boat, Japanese gardens, and tunnels galore: Why the Hague, Netherlands, is a kayaking oasis.

8/19/2016

Huddled in a corner of the canal, hungrily eating our fries. Bonnie was impressed by mayo:fries ratio.

How is it possible? How did I live in Delft for a year and never discover the wonderful kayaking oasis of The Hague? The horn you toot to request a kayak rental, free candy thrown at you by a friendly (?) passerby, fries that are lowered down to you by rope and pulley, gorgeous parks, a local brewery stop, and much more.

Rescue practice, real sea kayaks (!), and intense sun in Wachtebeke, Belgium

8/17/2016

A wall painted with cows - just another Belgian kayaking attraction.

In October we're going to Vancouver! Henk, Sara, and I are headed there to do some sea kayaking around Bowen Island and in Deep Cove. We established our own prerequisite of getting up-to-snuff with kayak rescues before we arrive, since the water temperature will be in the low 50s (F, ~10C) and the weather unpredictable. Sara and I practiced some rescues when we paddled in WA, but it's been a couple years, so she's signed up for a rescue class in North Carolina. Since Henk is still pretty new to kayaking, I saw this as a perfect opportunity to get him a free lesson by brushing up on my teaching skillz.

Step 1: Watch a bunch of YouTube videos about kayak rescues. We spent an afternoon watching wet exists, T-rescues, bow rescues, hip snaps, sweep rolls, C-to-C rolls, and more from the comfort of my mosquito-netted bed (those bugs are everywhere in Belgium!). I attempted to demo a roll using the little rocking chair in the living room. Funnier than effective.

Step 2: Find someone who will rent us sea kayaks. (Read on!)

Lokeren: The most accessible kayak rental in Belgium

5/23/2016

Kayaking tends to be a logistically-intensive sport, requiring expensive equipment, a vehicle, and a lot of time. Since moving to Europe almost 2 years ago, I've tried not to let being car-less and boat-less stop me from taking part in my all-time favorite activity. It hasn't been easy! There's nothing I miss more than throwing Big Purple on the roof of my car and going for a spontaneous weeknight sunset paddle or exploring a remote stretch of coast.

Last December I made an inventory of all the kayak rental shops in Belgium (excluding whitewater, of which there are quite a few in the south). So far, I've visited two shops that are difficult to reach by public transit and don't offer more than a linear out-and-back trip along a river.

Yesterday we visited an outfitter in Lokeren. I can't say I've found a complete solution yet, but I have finally found a shop just a short train ride away that offers quite a range of paddling routes. And it might just be the most convenient kayak rental ever... exciting, huh? ;) Read on!

Paddling through Giethoorn, Venice of the Netherlands

5/20/2016

Centrum of Giethoorn, Netherlands

Giethoorn is an adorable and quaint town way up north in the Netherlands - almost in Friesland. As you can see in the photo above, it's a dense network of channels, footbridges (180!), and thatch-roofed houses that can often only be reached by boat or on foot. The locals (about 3000 of them) travel over their personal bridges and on punters (boats you push along with a stick, like in Venice). I'd visited this town a few times before (it's a 15 minute bike ride from HJ's parents' house) but never floated along its canals. Until now!

Flowers smell better from a kayak: the Netherlands is in bloom!

4/28/2015

Just paddling through a field of daffodils.

Between mid-April and early-May, the rectangular fields of North and South Holland transform into a striped carpet of yellows, reds, purples, and pinks. Narrow canals, seemingly drawn with a ruler, meticulously separate the stripes. Tourists fly in from all over the world to view this annual spectacle between Haarlem in the north and Leiden in the south, where the flowers are most concentrated. Keukenhof is a world-renowned garden where hordes of visitors walk the narrow pathways, visit the windmill, and smell the flowers, especially this time of year.

On Sunday, a group of Windhappers (Alfons - trip organizer, Marianne, Willie, Elly, Twan, and I) set out to view the tulips from a less crowded place: our kayaks. Click Read More to see endless flower photos and hear about a minor mishap that almost resulted in carrying 6 kayaks over a busy railroad track...

Soaking up a bit of history and sun in the Biesbosch wetlands

4/13/2015

First break, sitting on a log.

The Biesbosch is a national park in the Netherlands, located about 30 minutes (drive) southeast of Rotterdam. On Sunday, Henk Jan and I hopped in the Beast (his 400k mile Volvo) and drove down to the Biesbosch for a day of kayaking. The Biesbosch is best explored by boat, since it consists of endless channels that weave around low-lying islands. The Biesbosch has a long history of inhabitants and water management. I'll tell you about that at the end of this post. We spent about 5 hours paddling through the channels, ending up with a solid 11-mile paddle for Henk Jan's first time in a kayak...