{"id":21489,"date":"2019-10-20T01:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-10-20T08:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=21489"},"modified":"2019-11-04T15:45:32","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T23:45:32","slug":"sea-kayaking-off-the-lighthouse-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2019\/10\/20\/sea-kayaking-off-the-lighthouse-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Sea Kayaking off the Lighthouse State"},"content":{"rendered":"

At thirteen, I paddled my first river in South Africa. The Orange River captivated me like nothing else I had experienced in my short life. And at that young age, I decided to build my life around paddling rivers: from international raft guiding to kayaking expeditions in Peru, Norway and South Africa, to name a few. Fast forward twenty-two years and I\u2019m lucky enough to still put \u2018exploring rivers\u2019 on my resume, now making a living with my camera in hand.<\/p>\n

Something else you should know, I grew up surfing the sharky waters of South Africa. I love the ocean. But still, nothing has ever seemed cooler to me than whitewater kayaking. And I never once thought about the skill set I had and how it might transfer to other paddling disciplines, until now.<\/p>\n

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After spending time in Maine on a couple of shoots, I felt the urge to connect with the Atlantic again. For several years, I\u2019ve followed Sea Kayak New England<\/a> on Instagram. Both Registered Maine Sea Kayak Guides, the owners, Jonathan and Kelsey Oltz, learned under sea kayaking legend John Carmody. (I would suggest you Google John if you aren\u2019t familiar with him, but considering he has zero online presence, you\u2019ll just have to take my word for it)<\/p>\n

Seeing as Jonathan and Kelsey are both accomplished paddlers, I reached out to see if they had any interest in showing me their backyard of South Portland, Maine, through the lens of a sea kayak. After many text messages and a phone call or two, the day arrived to explore the coast.<\/p>\n

It was mid-August when I met them at the parking lot of Portland Head Lighthouse. Dubbed ‘the Lighthouse State,’ Maine is pretty known for its abundance of lighthouses. In fact, 65 historical lighthouses stand along Maine\u2019s 3,478 miles of tidal shoreline (including the coastline, inlets and islands).<\/p>\n

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When I arrived toting a 12-foot kayak on my roof, swarms of tourists\u2014thicker than mosquitoes on a June evening\u2014cast awkward stares in my direction. Their cameras hung at half-mast as they paused from taken their umpteenth photo of so-and-so standing in front of\u2014yet another\u2014lighthouse to stare at me. I chuckled to myself. I planned to take umpteen-and-one photos of lighthouses but from the seat of my kayak instead of from a parking lot. And I knew I was about to experience this stunning landscape in the best way possible.<\/p>\n

We parked next to a pebbled beach, a lighthouse towered above us to the right and an old army barracks stood guard on the left. The sun sat low in the sky as the afternoon turned to evening. We changed into our dry tops, PFD and skirts. A routine so familiar to me, but this time, unlike the fresh air of the river, I smell the ocean.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll get you in the boat,\u201d Jonathan said, delving into our paddling objective for the afternoon. \u201cLet you get your sea legs,\u201d he laughed. \u201cThen head straight across the bay to those islands where we can play in the whitewater.\u201d Then, we\u2019ll head to that old abandoned lighthouse and back across to Portland Head,\u201d he finished. The thought of exploring an old abandoned lighthouse sounded awesome, but wait, hadn\u2019t he said whitewater?<\/p>\n