Kayaking on the D and R Canal

Monday morning, Ed and I found ourselves on the banks of the canal, ready to head out for a morning on the water. 

As we got into the kayak (we shared a double kayak), I immediately noticed that we sat sort of deeply in the water. My gut was that I shouldn't have brought the camera, but of course, it was completely fine, and after a few minutes, I got used to it. 

Viewing the canal from the kayak was gorgeous. We decided to go upstream first, and it defininitly took a bit to get a rhythm going without veering to one side or another. 

Compared to each having our own kayak, though, this was so preferable. The added benefit was that whenever I got tired, I could simply stop and let Ed paddle. 

While we tried to stay in the middle of the canal, we invariably would get turned to the side. Still, this gave us a chance to look for the other goal of this - to spot cute little turtles.

Funnily, it seemed like we saw more on the run than on the canal. Still, it was fun to look. 

As we got a little further down the river, we began to see other boaters. Originally, I had considered using a canoe instead of a kayak, but after seeing others in canoes, I was really happy with our choice. I thought the canoe would be more secure, but I think by sitting further down in the water, there was less tipping. We also moved a lot faster :). 

Finally, we started seeing more turtles! The cutest was a mommy turtle with a little baby turtle on her back. We were going to swiftly to take a picture, but I did snap this cute guy a short time later (he's on the log, in case you can't see). 

Finally, we reached the bridge by the golf course - 30 minutes out and our turn around point. We rested a bit to snack on some almonds and sip down some water, and then we headed back down the canal.

While we were now moving with the slow current, I was feeling a little worn out, so I took more rest breaks and let Ed paddle.

Before we knew it, we were headed towards the entrance of the small outlet of the rental place.

And, an hour later, we said goodbye to the canal, and headed onto dry land.