Kayaking my Beloved Lowcountry
Enough with the practical stuff, the real estate stuff. Let’s stop for a moment and consider the emotional and inspiring part of life in the Lowcountry. I came upon this video from REI yesterday about their Coastal Carolina Kayaking Trip, took a moment to watch it, and felt my heart swell.
The scenes in here are real folks. These are the things you can do and see on a daily basis from the seat of a kayak or even just walking around. But kayaking brings you as close to the water and nature as you can possibly be (without actually being in it of course), which is why it is one of my favorite activities that I rarely have enough time to do. I’ve kayaked the Sea of Cortez, the Pacific Northwest, the Hudson River and more…but each time I slip my boat into the water somewhere around Charleston, I feel a sense of home and incredible gratitude for the beauty that surrounds me in my beloved Lowcountry.
In my kayak, I have surfed a wave, I’ve fished, I’ve lollygagged in a river and been nearly knocked off my boat by a manatee surfacing next to me in the Charleston Harbor. I’ve pulled up to a distant deserted shore and beached myself to get a bite of lunch at a riverside restaurant. I have witnessed thousands of birds nesting and paddled with dolphins all around me.
Speaking of dolphins…in that REI video, you can see dolphins strand-feeding, a behavior that is almost 100% unique to the dolphins living off the South Carolina and Georgia coasts. While I have never seen that from a kayak, I was lucky enough to witness it at the edge of Morris Island, while celebrating a friend’s 40th birthday with a boat trip and lighthouse picnic. My friend Jennifer captured it on video so I am able to share it with you (ignore our girly squeals!)
Incredible. No?