Sea Kayaking. At Last.
On the bedstand: Dubliners, feel good story of the year. I'm looking at you Counterparts.Coming through the speakers: Dylan. If You See Her Say Hello. YouTube won't allow Dylan songs, so here's a Jeff Buckley cover.
Some did it as a dare. Some did it through peer pressure. Some just didn't do it. Me? There was no way I was going to miss jumping in to that frigid Atlantic water.It was the tail end of an afternoon sea kayaking session. The sun peeked down at us as we slid out of the kayaks and under the waves. Playful. Invigorated. Shocked. We dipped our heads under the 50 degree water, then trudged our kayaks back up the beach before getting out of our wetsuits.
Another Meetup group brought us out: Sea Kayaking in Bray. Brian came along, as did his friend Hanae. I paired up with a friendly Irishman as we struck out into the calm sea on a sunny day. Bray Head towered over us as we hugged the coastline. Seagulls peeked out from rock formations that seemed to bend in impossible arrays of black and crystal.
We landed at a hidden beach sheltered beside a cliff. A seal peaked his head out and watched us converse and eat Tatyos and enjoy a beautiful Irish summer day.On the return trip, I was struck by the silence the sea could offer. The sound of the paddle hitting the water, then emerging with the water trickling back down to the sea, then again hypnotically following the pattern with another dip into the ocean.
After our kayaking session, we put on our hiking boots and climbed to the peak of Bray Head. The muddy path lead straight up to the cross at the top of the cliff. We looked to the north: Bray, Killiney, and in the very far distance, Dublin. To our left, the mountains of Wicklow. To our right, the open sea. Behind us, a wild cliff path that would have to wait for the next trip.
We made it back down to the Bray Boardwalk, which had all the trappings of a seaside town. After a few pints and a hearty meal, we got on the train back to Dublin. As for those pints, they're much more enjoyable with access to a bathroom. That Dublin train gets us every time.