Kayaking...Sounds like great craic! Well it's not as fun in the freezing cold. When I say freezing, I'm not even being dramatic, it was so so cold. We walked to beside the sea where all the kayaks were, about a 10 minute walk from the centre. We had to bring a towel, spare socks and runners, and to wear our swimsuit under our clothes. When we arrived we were put into our wetsuits which we were SOAKING from the previous group. We went into the changing rooms and squealed and sqwalled (that sounds like a saying but I'm not sure so don't quote me in it) as we put on our wetsuits. We came out and then put on our life jackets and helmets. The instructors made us do a few warm-ups because we were really cold. One game was passing the oars to each other ( sounds boring but it was great fun) and another was running on the spot basically. Although it was called a warm-up it did not warm me up exactly.
But anyway, we set off. all of us each got into our kayaks along with our oars. The fun part was we were going to a trampoline that floated in the middle of the water. It was about 200m from the shore I would say. After we reached the dock where the trampoline was, we tied up our boats and got on the dock. Of course, I was last to reach the dock because I'm slow. I had to stand in the kayaks to get to the dock and I could feel myself wobbling as the kayaks were bobbing up and down in the water. Just as I was nearly there, I fell straight into the sea. Straight. In. Embarrassing to say the least. Was I surprised? No. Were people surprised? No. Was anyone surprised? No. Of course it would've been me. Clumsy is an understatement. Anyway we all jumped in and swam to the trampoline, it was really fun, but it was difficult to get on, I had to be pulled up by my life-jacket by one of the instructors. But once I was on, it was really good fun. We were running around it and jumping up high, trying not to fall off. Of course the instructors tried to push us off, but I grabbed onto a rope right before he was going to push me off. I was stuck on the side but Melissa helped me up! Cheers Melissa :)
After we all had a go on the trampoline, we got back into our kayaks and went down to a mini waterfall in a cave/tunnel thing. (by the way you can see what the trampoline was like by watching a video here.) One instructor was in a speedboat helping the slow people by holding their boat and speeding off. But I didn't get help even though I was close to last. Anyway, the waterfall was really refreshing because you got to put your head underneath it. Then it was time to go back to the centre so we kayaked back. We were about halfway there and The guy on the speedboat came over to me because would you believe I was last again :) I said that it was ok, I would kayak back myself, but he just grabbed my boat and sped off. It was actually rather fun, but just as I was waving at Aideen, my boat flipped, and I went straight in to the water again. AGAIN. The man came back for me and told me to hold on to the rope at the back of his boat while he held me kayak. I thought I was holding the rope to get into his boat but no. I was holding on, and he sped off again. WHILE I WAS HOLDING A ROPE. Just picture how stupid I looked as I held onto a rope at the back of a speedboat. I also had to hold my oar, so I was holding the rope with one hand. It was an interesting experience...but we all arrived back safe and sound. We went back to the adventure centre for the last time, and got our bags which we had already packed earlier on, and walked to our bus and went home. We didn't have much time to do anything, we just went straight home. I was really sad leaving Carlingford because it was the best trip I've ever been on. I loved it so so so much, it was absolutely amazing. The only thing I didn't like was the fact we had to go home!
We arrived back in Celbridge an hour and a half later to Esso where are parents were waiting. I had such a fabulous time and it's just sad that we'll never be able to go back as a school :'( It was definitely the highlight of TY so far!
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