From Kayak to Tall Ships

Out in a Kayak on Pike Lake in Wisconsin
 (I really need to get one of these to use on Isla... easy & fun, especially with Sofia along for the ride.)
You really get a very up close and personal experience with the water when you're in a kayak.
Except for actually being IN the water (which I often am), kayaking may be the next best thing.
We have canoes here at the farm, and we loved canoeing from years ago. That is nice, but always does require two people. And nowadays, we're often all doing our own thing.  It's even hard to get two people, even if one is my husband, to agree to do the same thing at the same time.
Kayaking solves soooo many problems...
... and provides so much peace & quiet  out on the water....

On the other hand, being on a tall ship would be majestic... sailing vessel the Denis Sullivan
was moored last week in Port Washington for Maritime Days.  My aunt worked as a guide that day on some of the other ships in the harbor. My brother & sister had tickets to go out on the Denis Sullivan, but due to a late breaking cloudburst, with lightning, it was canceled.  Maybe next year....


This ship actually has programs for teachers and students for professional development. I might look into that.  Beats sitting in a classroom...(my teaching certificate expires next summer...I'll think on it...)
It is normally moored in Milwaukee on L Michigan...but I see it does go into the Atlantic & Caribbean.
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Schooners Denis Sullivan, Madeline will become centerpiece of annual Maritime Festival this weekend

 My dad had a series of sailboats, and I've been on some out on Lake Michigan--you don't want to be out there in a storm, & I remember huddling down under the bow in a treacherous storm. I was quite young, but my aunt said we had to get Coast Guard support to be towed to shore. I probably blocked most of the bad stuff from my memory. My mom put up with a lot to be his 'first mate.'
My aunt had commemorative bricks with their names inscribed installed near the old lighthouse museum.      
(Capt. Roy Durst, & First Mate Pat Durst....
and they did often use those monikers  :-) 
Here's my aunt Joyce, w/us, her nieces, and me holding a small bag of ashes of my mother, which we sprinkled over the stones.  

 

And then, here we are...the survivors of Pat & Roy's many voyages...
  ...who scrubbed and varnished many boat decks 
and hoisted plenty of sails in our day...
we are indeed survivors...







Another tall ship that is impressive, & often seen on Isla is the Thor Heyerdahl, with a young training crew which sails from Germany, I think.   They do sometimes give tours when they are docked on Isla.
I know we have our own photos of this ship, but am not organized enough to find them.

Steve, having done a tour on the USS Jamestown, many years ago...(before internet...cell phones...oh yeah...we used to actually write air mail letters which he was happy to get when they came ahore... off Vietnam...or...wherever they were.  
guess it was secret...



Well...am definitely drifting off topic here.
what was it again?   somehow, it's all related...
anyway... Loved that Kayak experience.   More please!