I was the lucky parent who got to take the boys paddling in Tobin Harbor of Isle Royale. What I had imagined to be a soothing activity for me quickly turned stressful after getting lectured by the Dock hand on canoeing safety. Before he could get a word in, I assured him, "we know what we're doing, we've canoed lots of times". Then he quickly put me in my place by educating me on something that I didn't know.
He said, "On Superior, we don't tell people to wear life jackets to keep them from drowning. We tell them to wear life jackets so that we can find their bodies".
That
shut me up! He then informed me that the water temperature was a frigid 48-49 degrees and that ten minutes in the water without a wetsuit and many people would pass out from hypothermia. All of a sudden canoeing didn't seem like such a great idea and Tobin Harbor looked even bigger than at first glance.But, we did it anyway. Only the boys were completely carefree and I had a much more "job at hand" kind of attitude! In the last photo you can see the yellow sea plane that some of the island's visitors arrive on. We did enjoy our tour of the harbor, and John Jr wants everyone to know that sitting in the middle in an aluminum canoe was like sitting on a block of ice! ;)
Have you ever gone canoeing and where?
4 comments:
Looks like fun, but the lifejacket lecture would have freaked me out!!!!
Me too, AOM! I raised two boys also, and don't know if I could have trusted them not to dump us in, lecture or not. The temptation to hijinks may have proved too great. Glad to see Eric and John Jr. paid attention, cold bums and all!
Oh believe me, the boys gave me a hard time alright! They insisted that I worried too much, and I didn't realize how safe we were (HA!) and then John recants how fun it was to tip the canoe at summer camp a couple of years ago! Sure, I had enough blubber on me to last a little longer than 10 min., but Eric would have been a 'goner' LOL!
Eep! Man... You are brave. I'm not sure I would have even gotten in the boat after such a harsh lecture. I'm glad you were though, and courageous enough to snap a few shots.
I know I haven't commented much lately, but I've really been enjoying seeing your trip. I wish I could have been with you guys. You really do take the coolest trips.
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