Marriage Test

My latest coupon adventure involved kayaking at La Jolla Shores for an afternoon with friends.  Mariana, Steve, and I were ready for an afternoon of fun in the sun on the water....with lots of calories burned in the process! We had our coupons for 2 hour kayak rentals from a local place and headed out there late in the morning.

I've rented kayaks before and usually the staff will ask you your experience level and/or go over kayak basics before you head out. I am thinking this shop was run by twenty-somethings coming off their pot-high from the night before. OR they really just didn't care. No ID needed. No deposit. No credit card. Just sign the liability waiver and head down to the beach for your kayak!

Ok....so we get down there and apparently you just help yourself to a kayak and paddle. No worries about what time you left the shop. Evidently they assume you will be tired either at two hours or even before then....or they don't care if you have the kayak all day! Not really sure....

So you help yourself to the pile of kayaks and paddles and just go for it! One thing I did not realize before we started...Steve had never been kayaking. Minor detail....we (meaning his wife, Mariana) didn't go over paddling basics with him. I didn't think of it either (to be fair), so they had a rough start.

This is how you test a new marriage....get two people into a tandem kayak. At least one person has to be new to kayaking, then let them shove off into the waves and see how it goes.

I had a single kayak, so I paddled out past the waves as quickly as I could to try to avoid getting wet (didn't quite achieve that) and then turned around to see how Mariana and Steve were faring. I turned my kayak just in time to watch them capsize the kayak...not really sure how it happened although the story I got later was that they were paddling on opposite sides of the kayak (with Steve unknowingly paddling on the wrong side) and the kayak ended up being at a vulnerable position when the wave hit them. They didn't look too wet, although I am sure they were more wet than they would have liked. They righted the kayak and tried again.

I watched the whole thing but again I am not sure what exactly went wrong....all I know is they ended up capsizing the kayak AGAIN! I could tell they were both getting frustrated - especially Steve. Poor guy didn't know what the heck he was doing and this was not a fun way to start.

Being the troopers they are, they got right back into the kayak and went at it again....this time they made it past the waves!! YAY! The relief was evident on their faces when they got to the calmer area past the waves. I found out that the paddle had accidentally smacked Mariana in the face during one of the times the kayak overturned, but she didn't look too beat up.

The rest of our adventure was rather uneventful....actually it was quite peaceful being away from the shore and all the beach goers. Gliding over the kelp forest was relaxing. The only other marriage test Mariana and Steve ran into was that Steve smacked his hand against the kayak while paddling and reacted by shaking his hand out. Unfortunately his hand must have been a bit cold from the water, when he shook it his wedding band flew off and disappeared into the ocean!

Mariana declared him to be single for the day! Actually I think they both took it pretty well. They do have insurance after all!

So the rest of the adventure was less exciting but that was a good thing. We had a great afternoon and really enjoyed the great weather. We plan to go again soon!! Enjoy these other pics from that afternoon.