Relaxing On Local Waters - Kayaking At Belcarra Park

If you're looking for some relaxing time in the sun, surrounded by cold, salty waters and abundant aquatic wildlife, then look no further than your local kayaking destination. For me, that was at Belcarra Park in Anmore.

My cousin was in town with his favourite squeeze, and my brother suggested this surprisingly fun and relaxing activity. I'm not much of a sports person myself. I'm clutzy and prone to disaster, but when you choose a double kayak, the person in the back (my brother) is steering using foot pedals. Since he's already paddling away, I just have to pretend to paddle (and take lots of pictures).

I would highly recommend this water sport even for the non-sports person. Once you're out in the water, it's so refreshing! The water is icy cold and feels great on your skin when you stick your hand into the water, while the sun was bright and warms you up. Because of the high salt content of the water, salt crystals actually formed on my arm when the sun dried up the water. I found that kind of neat. I guess this is how people easily collected salt in the olden days (but probably not on their arm.)
We ducked under docks from private homes around the water's edge and discovered brightly coloured starfish clinging to the rocky, barnacle-covered ledges. They looked so beautiful! I touched one that was above the water and it was rough and sort of spiky, but not dangerously so. I found that surprising since they look like soft sponges in the water. They attach to surfaces with tiny, translucent sucker feet.
Seals bobbed their heads out of the water to inspect our kayaks from a distance. It was very exciting to have them so near, until we discovered one lounging on a rock that we happened to pass right by! It was so lazy that it simply waved one flipper at us, as if to bat away an annoying fly, and resumed napping.Our original plan of a two hour kayak soon extended to a happy four hours. Jellyfish in white and deep red floated past, and we stopped at a secluded beach that seemed accessible only by water.
It was nice to be out on the water, away from the worries of every day life. I hope you'll have the chance to enjoy it while the weather is still lazy and good.

Have a great day!