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I don’t
know about you, but I’m always looking for a family activity to do. Something
different. I mostly look for a family activity because of my ongoing guilt at
never doing anything remotely resembling a family activity, other than the odd
trip to the movie theater. So, my assignment this month? Kayaking.
I
immediately put in a call to AquaTrails Nature Tours on Ocean Drive in Lower Township. Owned and operated by Jeff and Tracey Martin,
Aqua Trails is the perfect solution to my dilemma. It requires physical
exercise. It is a water sport – which my boyfriend and his 12-year-old- daughter
Megan LOVE and it’s something I think I can actually do. I’m not exactly you’re
outdoorsy type. I’m, in fact, perfectly content to sit at home and watch movies
all day. Recognizing, however, that is not only very limiting but excruciatingly
unhealthy – I am trying to branch out.
I am
aware that Aaron and Megan’s choice for a kayaking adventure would fall under
Aqua Trails’ other suggestion: “Hey, if touring is too mellow, rent a surf kayak
for the day. Get wild in the waves.” Getting wild in the waves? Exactly what I
do not want to do, by the way. Lucky for me, they don’t hear the man who is
returning his kayaks. He is from Montreal, Québec and rented two kayaks for
 24-hours. He and his wife had a blast kayaking all over Cape May. Well, that’s
nice, I say to myself, now please stop being so happy. Someone might hear you
‘cause it’s the Nature Tour for me, rather us. Although, what I really wanted to
do was the Full Moon Tour. How cool would that be? Think about it, kayaking in
the dark – creepy but quite the adventure. However, not particularly conducive
to excellent pictures which will encourage you, my readers, to try this when you
come down.
Enough
already. Let me tell you about our adventure. It will be Aaron in one kayak;
Megan and me in a double; a couple who have family in the area and are visiting
Cape May – each with a single kayak; and our tour guide – Jeff Martin. Scott,
the tattoo guy, shows us how to paddle and Joe shows us how to get into
 the
kayak without tipping the thing over or tumbling over like a bowling pin.
I,
myself, am not really listening – which will come back to haunt me in about
three minutes – because I’m obsessing about what to do with my camera. My
worries are groundless because Jeff has already given me a great water-proof bag
but now I’m worrying about how I can paddle and take pictures. I’m hoping Megan
can pick up the slack. Yes, that’s right, I am not above letting a 12-year-old
bail me out of trouble. Everyone is in their kayak but me and paddling out of
the harbor. Megan is patiently waiting.
Now,
what did he say to do? I sit on the side of the kayak and slide my feet over.
Scott tells me that the stronger paddler should be in the back so here I am,
although I’m not so sure I’m the stronger one. Now, how do I get out of here?
Ahh, everyone’s waiting on me. I hate this. Hold on. I watch Megan and do what
she does, at the same time she does it. Eureka!! We’re moving. In the right
direction. All righty now.
 The
first obstacle is right ahead of us. That would be the bridge we have to go
under. Visions of crashing into the thingies that hold up the bridge dance in my
head but I see that Megan is quick to keep the paddle to one side in order for
us to turn to the other side. No worries, we glide under with no problem.
And,
suddenly, it seems we’re in the marshes. Jeff is pointing out birds and points
of interest along the way.
“See
those black pebbles? They’re mud snails. Their tongues run along the mud picking
up food.” We see any number of birds –well – Jeff sees – I spend most of my time
that first 45 minutes balancing the paddle with the camera and trying not to
clobber Megan in the head or get clobbered as I reach for the camera. I do
manage to see a few things though – Laughing Gulls, American Oyster Catcher, and
Cormorant.
The
Cormorant, Jeff explains, has trouble taking flight because he dives so deep in
the water to grab a fish. His wings are too wet to get him airborne quickly.
There
are various sandpipers: Spotted and Semipalmated not to mention the giant Osprey
nest rising above the marsh grasses. And everything is going along
 swimmingly.
Jeff thinks about going under another bridge where the Garden State Parkway
Sunday traffic is whizzing by but decides against it because the current is
stronger there and there is again the issue of the camera, so we make a hard
left. He explains that it is shallow in some spots but not to worry he’ll help
us through.
So,
here’s the thing…Megan and I are lagging behind a bit because of my picture
taking and because of the fact that I am a SPAZ.
“Where
are we going?” She asks.
“I
don’t know. I don’t see anything.”
We keep
on paddling in the direction of the other kayaks. Hey wait a minute. Where’s
everybody going? They’re paddling through this narrow slip of a place. Well o.k.
And I hear Jeff saying just as he turns a corner and disappears; “I’m just a
little worried about the double ka…”
What,
what, what???
We’re
not moving. We’re stuck. Megan moves back and forth to try and jiggle us into
deeper water. We try and use our paddles to push off. O.k. We’re stuck. WE’RE
STUCK. I am, if anything, always calm in a crisis.
“Are
you kidding me?” I scream.
Aaron
is behind us and I try to grab onto his kayak so he can tow us out – but it’s
not working. Now all the others have to back out because we can’t make it
through. Here’s the catch. No one can back out until we back out, ‘cause we’re
clogging up the runway. Aarrgh. Megan and I somehow manage extricate ourselves
from the slimy, black ooze we’ve gotten ourselves glued to and we are now in
deeper water. Jeff says that as the day goes on, the marsh fills up more with
the tides and we are still at the edge of low tide. The group paddles off to the
much larger and seemingly deeper passage, curses us I’m quite sure.
 Ahhh.
This is better. Yes, it is a bit shallow here and there but manageable and I’m
wondering why we didn’t come this way in the first place. It is quite lovely and
peaceful back here. It’s really us and nature and nothing else. Jeff takes pity
on us. It is about 95 degrees out and we’ve been paddling for close to an hour.
We park our kayaks along a sandy section of the marsh which the Army Corps of
Engineers constructed some years back.
Jeff,
who is a biology teacher at Lower Cape May Regional (LCMR) high school in the
off season, shows us the different kinds of vegetation growing there among
which is sea lavender which he said floral arrangers come and pick for dried
flower arrangements. There is cord grass which grows to about 5-feet and is
eaten by ducks, geese and other wildlife. Sea blight and slender glasswort are
also present and these are plants often found in the salt marsh.
I can
see that both Megan’s and Aaron’s eyes have glassed over but I ignore them
knowing that something is sinking in no matter how resistant they are. We have
had a snack, which Jeff thoughtfully brought along. We’ve had water, also
provided with each kayak, and we’ve had a bit of rest – it’s time to shove off.
My foot of course sinks into the black gooey salt marshy stuff and I’m up to my
ankle in it. I can’t quite pull my foot out. It’s good to know that the source
of all life – I’m sure I’m exaggerating but it feels like that back here – is so
tenacious. Aaron gives me a hand so that I’m back in the kayak and back on the
water again.
And
then the neatest thing happened. There is a large tree in the fore distance. It
i s leafless and there are four Osprey at various points but the one, I swear,
sees me taking pictures and he (could be a she) is calling to me to the take his
picture. He flies over head and I ignore him. Then we hear this loud birdie
squawk.
“He’s
talking to you,” said Megan. “You better take his picture.”
“You
think so? ‘Cause that’s what I thought too.” I take the camera out and aim up.
Darn if he doesn’t show off for us. Takes flight, circles around us, lands on
the same branch and talks to us. So, I take several pictures.
Meanwhile, everyone is way ahead of us and we hustle to catch up with them. By
the way, Megan and I are expert kayakers now, I’ll have you know. We are in
sync, we know how to get ourselves out of any situation and what’s more….we’ re
stuck again. Ah gawd. Aaron looks back and sees that Megan is paddling on one
side and I’m paddling on the other.
“You
guys. You have to work together.”
Oh.
That would be directed toward me. I watch what Megan is doing and do the same –
bingo – we’re back in deeper water and as we make the turn I see that the marsh
sort of bottoms out at one point and the kayaks before us are perched atop large
stones. Jeff gets out and pulls each one of us into deeper water but cautions us
against getting out and pulling ourselves out because of the slippery stones and
the fact that he wears some kind of skid-proof sandal. As Megan and I glide into
deeper water, I see the narrow slip where we would have come out had we been
able to keep afloat. Ah that’s why he wanted to go that way. It’s all clear now.
Jeff
also informs us that this particular double kayak is always a little more
problematic in shallow water because of its construction so you might want to
keep that mind when you rent a kayak.
Well,
it’s clear sailing as we wind around the marsh and come out to familiar
territory. There is a beautiful Great Egret having lunch along the edges of the
far
 marsh. Megan’s arms are getting a little tired and I put the camera away to
take up the slack.
It’s
time to sit back, slowly paddle and slip into home base. Now, I’m aware that it
wasn’t the most exciting of adventures but it was an adventure. It was time
spent together in a shared experience
I was
all proud of myself that I organized it, and by organized it – I made a simple
phone call.
Really,
If we want future generations to understand why protecting the environment is so
important, we have to expose young and old to a few outings like this one. Megan
and Aaron definitely liked kayaking and I promised them that next time we’d “get
wild in the waves.”
You too
can try whatever kayak experience you think you’re up for. Don’t hesitate
because it’s really easy-breezy especially if you’re not trying to do three
things at once. Give Jeff a call at Aqua Trails 609-884-5600. Tours run from May
through September so you don’t have too many more chances. Of course, there’s
always next season. They offer two daily tours of the wetlands - the one we took
at 9:30 a.m. and an afternoon tour at 1 p.m. On Tuesdays and Saturdays there i s
a sunset tour. Check their website or call for times. Don’t forget the moonlight
tour. In September the moonlight tour will run on the 16th, 17th
and-18th starting at 7:45 p.m. Additionally, Aqua Trails rents kayaks
for day time and overnight and for kayak surfing. Again check the website or
call for details on this and any planned road trips that may be in the offing.
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