Tag Archives: paddle

Bonus Santa Blog Post

Christmas Eve and I was down by the water in Mukilteo.  My timing couldn’t have been better.  I made a discovery that will come as a surprise to many of you.  You may have thought that Santa rode in a sleigh on Christmas Eve (at night too), flying through the air pulled by his reindeer.  I have news for you all.  That isn’t true!  Everyone has been lying to you all these years.  How do I know?  Because I saw Santa.

Turns out Santa’s preferred mode of transport is a paddle board.  The reindeer do pull him along on his board but they do so from a small boat and they might look a bit like people wearing reindeer antlers.  Santa did spend a bit of time getting ready.  I’m sure it wasn’t because he was putting on appropriate clothing for being out on the water in December.  He just wanted to make sure he looked the part.  A mask was also in order so he might have trimmed the beard.

He got on to the board prior to the reindeer being ready.  A bit of paddling around until it was time to hook the tow line on from the boat the reindeer were using.  With everyone aboard, they headed out in to the water and started motoring around near the lighthouse.  The ferries were crossing in the background but Santa was not going to tangle with them.  I had to head off after they made a couple of passes along the waterfront but I assume they were off around the world to start delivering presents.

Kayak Club Outing

A few kayakers were out while we were in Ballard.  One group appeared to be either a club or a training course.  Most of them were in identical looking kayaks while they seemed to be escorted by a pair of kayakers in more professional looking rigs.  They did not go into the lock but came to check it out before heading back in the opposite direction.

Another pair came from the direction of Lake Union and were heading towards Puget Sound.  They did take a ride through the lock.  Since they did not have ropes to tie off during the lowering of the water, they hung on to one of the other boats as the water level was lowered before paddling out of the lock and on their way.  I imagine being at the bottom of the lock in a kayak is quite intimidating but they seemed like seasoned users.

Late Night Paddle Boarding

AU0E4490.jpgOne evening on Coronado I wanted to get some shots of the San Diego skyline when it was illuminated. As I was walking along the water, a group of people came paddle boarding by in the dark. With the water calm and nothing much moving in the bay, it seemed like a pretty cool thing to be doing just gliding through at your own pace watching the city drift by. Hope that they had a good time!