Change of Plans...white water to open water

This weekend I had planned on making my first whitewater boating trip of the year. The plan was to meet up with a friend/fellow rafter on Friday morning and make an early safety run down the Cispus which would then be followed by two more on the Cispus with a much larger group. Though I had the Blast Shelter all packed up, time off of work and was eager to get out on the water Mother Nature a different idea and refused to provide us with a water level adequate to run the river (oh the joys of early season boating!)


20 minutes after making the call to cancel the rafting trip another plan to go sea kayaking quickly came together. "Sea kayaking? You don't sea kayak!" That was pretty much true until I met up with Ben this morning. Next thing you know, thanks to Ben and two of his beautiful handmade kayaks (can you believe he built this boat with pieces of an old wood wardrobe!) , and with a brief lesson on getting myself into the boat I was on the water in no time!
We set off from park next to the Mukilteo ferry terminal, on the calmest flattest water I have ever seen in the sound, and made the crossing over to Whidbey Island. After reaching the island we paused to let the inbound ferry pass by us and dock. Though I was anxious to keep going towards lunch I was informed by Ben, in all his great wisdom, that paddling under the ferry dock is highly frowned upon and also illegal (don't ask how he learned this one!) and it would be in our best interest to take the long way around and stay at least 200' off the stern of the ferry. After rounding the ferry terminal we stoppped at the public beach to stretch our legs and enjoy some lunch.
After 20 minutes or so the still flat water was calling us back so back in the boats we went. We paddled north from the beach out into the channel about a mile or so before turning back towards Mukilteo. The passage between the islands here was pretty interesting. The water and the wind were extrememly calm just as it had been all day and the harbor seals made a dozen or so appearances, apparently they enjoy following kayaks around (due to the "happy wife, happy life" clause in our marraige I didn't want to dunk Diane's new camera in the drink so I did not attemp to get pictures of all these cute little guys while paddling-ironic thing is as soon as I got home she wanted the pictures of them!)
So back top the beach we went once again waiting for a passing ferry before making our landing. All-in-all we estimated 8-9 miles and all of it on near perfect water. Thanks again Ben for the great introduction to sea kayking I can't wait to get back out on the water again! Thanks again Ben!
Stats:
Miles Logged: 8-ish