Texel Nature Tramps

Karien is a volunteer for the "Natuurstruners" (Texel 'dialect' for "Nature Tramps") youth group on the island of Texel. Saturday, Ecomare ran their "Migratory Bird" youth activity for the "Natuurstruners". When I learned that Leo (a Texel sea kayaker) was narrating the activity I expressed my interest to join the hike. Leo had just one condition: that I act as a kid. Out of the Ecomare van came a globe and various stuffed wading birds and Leo asking questions and explaining about why the birds visit Texel. Texel is a huge "restaurant" with a wide variety of delicacies on the birds' menu; opening hours in 6hr25min intervals around local low water...

After spotting and observing the various dining birds and the children making notes, we head out to the tidal flats to have a closer look at what is on the birds' menu. The most peculiar thing I wondered about were the 'snotty' egg cases of a "gestippelde dieseltrein worm" (Latin: Anaitides maculata). Word for word translated into English it would be a "Spotted diesel train worm". But it becomes even more fascinating when (back home) I learned it's English name: "Paddle worm". We did not see the worm on our digs, so it must have gone paddling.

La Bufadora

Thank you Jen for taking us to the La Bufadora area in Baja California Mexico. It was a great Aqua Adventure! This is my first effort at creating a movie file by combining digital pictures with digital camera movie clips. I used Microsoft MovieMaker. Probably already encountering the limits of this software by the frequent software crashes I had to endure. I could not resist uploading the 'movie' to YouTube.

And while I am at it, I also uploaded the pictures for slide shows at Picasa for 2 april and 3 april.

Southwest Kayak Symposium 2007

With my name on the symposium schedule and flights booked there was no way to 'bail out' of my second attendance at the Aqua Adventures Southwest Kayak Symposium.

Although I would have a BIG excuse to change all plans for this season. Jen Kleck sure kept me busy to have my mind off things... Arriving Wednesday night she had me and Fiona running a BCU 4* on the Thursday. Then an Incident Management class on Friday. Although a little less surf mayhem than the year before, we still had the occasional capsize and a mysteriously disconnecting tow-line. A rock landing on the Mission Bay breakwater proved to be more difficult than anticipated (and interesting to watch for Fiona and me). The incident management day even made it into a California Kayak Friends e-mail exchange; about the best way to tow a sea kayak through surf. Thank you Henk Aling for sending the e-mails regarding this. Anyway, I very much enjoyed the symposium.

Saturday evening camp fire was magical with Steve Wilson, Nigel Foster and Russell Farrow playing guitar and singing and Brent Reitz playing the harmonica (a whole range of them in fact). Fireworks along the way (courtesy of the nearby Sea World). And according to the jamming all along (the watchtower), a new kayak symposium song is in the making.

A big thank you to Lynn and Thom for their hospitality in serving an excellent Sunday evening course meal for the symposium staff at their house, with special imported coffees and single malt Scottish whiskey. 5 stars on the culinary scale!