The sixth day out 

First things first, you have not been able to adjust to the long drives to whatever destination in whatever city you are going to. When I say long I mean 2 hours. These two hours are going to be with the same group of people that you have sat next to, sweat excessively with, shared stories, Swam, laughed, and maybe even cried with for six days in a row. Brace Yourself BEFORE getting into that van! If you can make sure you get a bottle of Febreeze to help air out the rancid smell of the van because it is going to smell to high heaven! Try and park yourself next to the window seat to be found in a position to embrace the beauty of the drive while zoning out from the obscenely loud music of your iPod. When you finally get situated in the van and find the right amount of Air Conditioner spot for you to relax kick back and get it all in. Have a few laughs and take a few snapchat picture and videos with your new found friends to show your best friends and family back home. This part is very easy and fun. You know because we are milenials. You begin to realize that the time is going by slowly and you may or may not start to doze off into a wonderful sleep, due to the lack of sleep and having to leave at 6:30/7 in the morning. This 'sleep' will be rudely interrupted by a bump in the road and your body will go flying, because let’s face it no one wears a seatbelt in the oversized 12 people bus of a van. Knowing this is your last day and you are already a nice color of cherry red, of course you made sure to bring your sunscreen! SPF 75 to be exact. Knowing that you need this wonderful lubricant for your skin, you decided that your sunburn will turn tan on its own and only cover the essentials, face and shoulders, that are already burned to a crisp. So you start to lather up in the van when you wake up from that ruckus because you are not going to be able to fall back to sleep. 

 Finally you arrive at your destination! GREAT! You are feeling that this is going to be the last day and it is going to be PERFECTION. The lofty white obscure van is finally parked with the keys no longer in the ignition and you start to panic. You panic that this vehicle in the tiny parking spots that fit a normal size car, is starting to overheat while everyone just sits and waits. I have no idea why everyone sits and waits for permission to leave the van, but by then being in Florida heat with 90 degrees slowly creeping up to you, you slowly become drenched in your own sweat and tears. Everyone starts yelling MOVE and GET OUT OF THE VAN, and you now have a stampede of 12 adult bodies trampoling and falling over the backpacks, waters, coolers, and fins sets that you brought to enjoy this last day. Now it is finally time to come out in the sun and have some fun! Choosing to kayak was a great idea with the little upper body strength that you have, you want to push yourself and a boat larger then you around in the water with the sun beating down on you while your best friend is no where to be found. Ten minutes later you think you finally have an idea of what you are doing and you see your friend in the distance. You begin to get your momentum and realize that there is no one else around you in this mangrove bay, watching them all leave to open water kayaking like pros while you feel like a new born horse just getting up on your legs for the first time. So you decided to hang out around with your friend and the clouds start to roll in. You realize that the water current is picking up.

 At this point, you believe you have a great skill and start to head back to base where you started this breathtaking adventure to grab some water. After fighting this current, you are finally in the clear and can make your way back easily. But once you get your momentum, you see your friend literally paddling in circles because she cannot figure out the current. This is the place where the fun begins. Time to go and help the friend by going back into the current you were just stuck in for the initial 10 min of this adventure, just to pull her out. This was a real test of friendship. Fifteen minutes later you and your friend were able to successfully get out of the current while colliding three times with each other and passing each other in different directions because of harsh winds working against you. When all is said and done you and your friend are finally on the path to home base, and start to feel very hot. Taking a second to look down. You see that your body has turned from a cherry red to a four star lobster meals and you book it back to base with the strength that you had no idea existed in your biceps. Arriving to base and falling out of the kayak into the refreshing water you reflect on the day, and realize that the two hours of kayaking was a good day and mentally start to prepare yourself for the van to come pick you up and for you to be extremely sore from the new found sunburn you brought upon yourself.

If you would like to experience this adventure, click here!
Here is a list of things to learn before you start your kayaking adventure!