Good Days and Less Good

One of the things I have to keep in mind about being on the water a couple of days a week is that these are not all going to be good days. So many of the days that I go out alone in my kayak are not "alone" times, for instance; not when I'm crossing Gyro Park in Cadboro Bay, that is. Summer means that there will be people on the beach and in the park and parking lot. It's not just the few who are overjoyed at summer weather, and know to go to the beach to celebrate it. It's not just the dedicated few who go to the beach in any kind of weather and enjoy whatever they get, whether they peel down and sunbathe or bundle up and watch stormy waves. In summer, there can be hundreds of people here for summer festival events; most of them bring cars and all of them add up to crowds. It's hard at times to remember this is a public park, not "my" beach.
I had a great paddle the other day, out in my Eliza at about 6:30 pm on Friday the 18th with Bernie in the Pamlico and Richard in his Telkwa. On the way to the Chains, a puffin surfaced just off my bow, with a fish in its beak. Awesome. Up close and personal. We paddled over to Mary Tod, and back to Gyro Park after sunset with the little Filzer mouse lights blinking on my and Bernie's PFDs.
So when I went out with Straitwatch in the zodiac on Friday the 25th, I came back in a philosophical mood. It's been months, really since I was last troubled with seasickness. So there's no point in being bothered that I ended up draped over one of the pontoons, hanging on to the gunn'l line for dear life, studying marine biology with my stomach turned inside out and my ass taking a minor in astronomy. Happens from time to time to anyone. Get over it.
Feeling gobsmacked until noon Sunday has me less philosophical. Turns out that for me, not only does a migraine = nausea on the water, but seasickness = migraine and resulting 30-hour hangover. Shall want to avoid that in the future. Time to pick up some more bismuth and Tums before going on the water tomorrow. I have a paddle set up with Heather for Monday... just a quick trip out to Flower Island to drop a fishing line into the water and guess who's coming to dinner.