BaffinPaddler - http://baffinpaddler.blogspot.com

This is one of my favourite "easy to paddle" little magic spots! Bon Echo Provincial Park is in the south central part of Ontario, Canada. It's a pretty nice place to camp! You have amenites here. Even on the back country sites - where you'll have more bugs - but more privacy. Take your pick. More people or more bugs? It's hard to choose sometimes! Mazinaw Rock is on picturesque and easy to paddle Mazinaw Lake . Mazinaw Rock is 100 metres high. If you call out, it echos three times - hence the name, "Bon Echo". In French it means, "good echo". I'll agree! I tried it - three times. It's true! Mazinaw Lake is the second deepest lake in Ontario, Canada. It averages 135 feet deep, and its deepest parts are 476 feet deep. Wow! Suddenly, I feel so small. You might want to think about a float for your camera here! If it goes overboard, you'll never find it again. I'll admit - I love rocks. Doesn't everyone?...

That's my gloved hand on the tail end of my Maelstrom Vital 166 . Wow! When it's really hot, I paddle a bit, then get into the water and swim with my kayak. It hangs around if there is no wind or current. Otherwise I have to hang on to it. Really hot and humid weather is not my favorite time to be inside a sea kayak. This isn't the type of weather that motivates me to head out to paddle unless I can jump out often and swim with my kayak. How to Stay Cool with your Kayak! Swim with it. It's fun .  Why should your kayak have all the fun. It's in the water. You're not! I'm swimming with my sea kayak in a pretty little lake in Canada and loving it. But I don't want it to get away. Come back here kayak! Wind takes it away quickly when I snap a shot from the water. Although, when you jump overboard intentionally to cool off and start snapping shots from the water, your paddle buddy may ask . . . "What are you doing now . . . !?" Peo...

Can you see what's wrong with this picture? If not, read on. On July 17 at 7:00 p.m., the summer sky went dark and I could see I was driving into the storm. It hit my red Mitsubishi Outlander with the Maelstrom Vital and Vaag sea kayaks strapped on top all at once 30 minutes later. Of course, there's no pic of that! This is back home safe and sound. My first thought was, "There's a tornado hitting somewhere, I hope I'm not in it!" Or, "I'm in a micro-burst! What do I do?" There was no gradual build up of wind. Just a sudden burst of 90 km or plus wind! It was like a punch in the face. "Whoa." When you have two 17 foot long sea kayaks strapped on top of your car, you are very vulnerable to high winds, gusty winds, cross winds, and sudden storms! Just an hour earlier while packing up and strapping down the Malestrom kayaks on a hot, calm, sunny day at a lake up in Mont Tremblant, Quebec, my paddling partner said, ...

Find your paddle glass! The BaffinPaddler

1. Pack up to the light of the moon. Any moon will do. I'm hauling my Boreal Baffin this time. My other boat is a Maelstrom Vital 166 . What a choice I've got! It's hard to decide which boat to take sometimes. A lucky problem that all sea kayakers should be afflicted with. 2. Take one of your sea kayaks somewhere. You have more than one right?!  3. Bring friends!   4. Enjoy! This is a simple, no fat recipe. You can indulge and enjoy as much of it as you like, as often as you like. What's your favourite kayaking recipe? The BaffinPaddler

Well, here we go. Let's take the big 50 pound puppy to the lake. Where do we put her? On the back deck of my Boreal Baffin . Why not? It should work, eh? All these brilliant ideas sound great when you test them out at home with your boat parked on the grass in your front yard while you train the dog to get on to the back deck of your kayak and lay still for a few minutes.   But when I get out on the water with her parked as close to the back of my cockpit as possible for stability, I quickly find out that a 50 pound doggie - this cute blue merle Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix named "Riley", can move a bit, shift her weight, turn her head, whine, and decide to suddenly sit up tall while I'm paddling instead of laying down. Plus the water doesn't sit still either, even on a calm day. All this makes for a tippy kayak.   This is interesting! A new challenge.  And this is something we're just having fun with on an warm, sunny day wit...

  Take your boat (without a motor) somewhere grand! The BaffinPaddler Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Launching from Dows Lake, paddling on the historic Rideau Canal towards the City of Ottawa and the locks.

Ahhhh, the lazy days of summer. This is what kayaking and life is all about . . . sometimes! The good times! Do you see the two little white eyes at the top of the first picture? Click on the pic to enlarge it. Cheeky bug. Not afraid of the camera either. This is not a zoomed in shot. I was taking a picture of the nose of my boat when this guy showed up and stole the shot. The camera lens focused on him instead. A nice surprise. My feet are underwater here. Pretty nice stuff! I mean the water . . . This one (or maybe most of them) is for love of kayak. I love this kayak so much! The Maelstrom Vital 166 . Ahhhh, the lazy days of summer. And I just learned that all those pesky big black "picnic hungry" ants can't climb up beer cans, so at least part of my lunch is safe! So many nice spots! Enjoy finding yours! The BaffinPaddler