Anyone in New York or Brooklyn today wanting to catch
an interesting outdoorsy event might head over to
the second annual Jamaica Bay Kayak Fishing Tournament. The fishing and paddling
fiesta is attracting scores of kayaker-anglers who will catch and release some of the region’s favorite
“sport fish”: bluefish, striped bass and weakfish. This will be a bigger event than the one last year, which I confess
I missed, but heard about. Anyway, it could be a nice way to spend a cool Saturday.
Lonnie Dupree’s Big Expedition
Lonnie Dupree is an explorer, sea kayaker and author of Greenland Expedition: Where Ice Is Born. He has
undertaken some major expeditions in his career and with explorer Eric Larsen will soon set off on a summer crossing of
the Arctic Sea, by way of the North Pole, a very serious, major expedition. The expedition hopes to create awareness of
global climate change. Here is a well-done and informative profile of Dupree in Sea Kayaker
Magazine wherein he discusses his next great adventure and some of his past expeditions.
Bioluminescent Lagoons
What makes the lagoons glow in Puerto Rico, resembles a firefly, and feeds on blue-green algae?
Give up? The dinoflagellates, a microscopic plankton that
creates light through a chemical reaction when disturbed.
Kayakers out in Fajardo, P.R. are hopping out of their kayaks just to swim with these organisms that
create the bioluminescent lagoons. Paddling through is quite an experience and children and
adults delightedly exclaim “ooh’s and aah’s” as the water lights up. Swimming however, is something ghostly
and some feel it’s like sprinkling pixie dust all over your body. CNN has
a nice article on the
lagoons on how to book your next kayaking tour while in Puerto Rico. Sounds pretty far out to me!
Vancouver Island
I love the Northwest. Having lived in Seattle for 5 years, I often bristle at fellow New
Yorkers who dis the city and region for its excessive gloominess and excessive rain. Folks, I’ve been in New York now
for almost six years and I can tell you that the weather here ain’t much better than Seattle. But maybe that’s for the
best. After all, the last thing Seattle needs is more people. OK, that is now off my chest. So onto this fine article
on Vancouver Island. Give this one a read and if you don’t want to
pack up and go there, well, something’s wrong with you.
Kayaking Mongolia
A pretty cool
article in the New York Times about kayaking in Mongolia by Jan Goodwin. Somewhat unusual for the Times to run a
piece like this…more often you see the articles like the
cover piece on the glitz and expense of Dubai,
the up and coming Middle Eastern capital awash in oil wealth (you wondered where your $2.50 a gallon was going?).
But I really liked this article as it was a nice mixture of outdoors adventure and a quick immersion into a culture
that I don’t think most people even know exists. Goodwin paddles Lake Khovsgol, a 84.5 mile long body of water in the
heart of the country. One thing I found interesting is that Mongolians have no tradition of boating or
swimming, and that they don’t fish because they don’t want to offend the lake god. Fascinating.