12/31/2005 04:04:00 PM
A Quiet New Year's Eve Morning Paddle
'Mangroove Dan' was introduced to my site by a fellow blogger, liked what he read about kayaking and emailed me if I could teach him how to get his feet wet. You've got to oblige a fellow consultant and it was a fine excuse for a New Year's Eve paddle anyway. There were supposed to be four of us going for a paddle at Sg. Kuap but at the last minute 'kuroni' called in sick and the morose 'IC' was a no-show. To add to the glum it started to drizzle with dark clouds gathering in the distance. But all these did not dampen mangrove dan’s spirit though, so I decided that we’ll go somewhere nearby for his maiden paddle – the historic 
After some basic instructions on paddling and safety, we hit the water with a threatening overcast sky. Dan was a natural on the water, perhaps because of his time spent on the waters fishing and also his twice-a-week-badminton-sessions level of fitness. Nonetheless he said that he was getting a good work out on the river.
Dan is an engineer and a keen angler and as we paddled along we shared our dreams – his marriage plans in the coming year and mine of making kayaking more popular in Kuching. Despite some muscular aches and pain as can be expected being his first time paddling, we were relaxed and in a cheerful mood.
We were alone on the water and the tranquility made me reflective of the past year with misty thoughts of love ones and the new friendships that kayaking has brought me. In this silent place of my heart I felt grateful and happy.
As we paddled back leisurely, relishing in the cool morning air, it dawned on me that Dan is now not only an engineer and angler but also a natural-born kayaker! Glad to have you and welcome on board 'Mangroove Dan'! See you ALL on the waters in 2006!
Stumble It!15 Comments:
At Saturday, 31 December, 2005 
said:
At Saturday, 31 December, 2005 said:
At Saturday, 31 December, 2005 
FH2O said:
Get well soon so we can go recee 4 our new river adventures in '06!
yeah, dan's a keeper!
At Saturday, 31 December, 2005 Pandabonium said:
At Saturday, 31 December, 2005 said:
At Saturday, 31 December, 2005 FH2O said:
thanks for your kind words panda!
kuroni - jungle joe is lame (!) how about 'J2C' for 'joe to sea'? Chew on it for the new year!
At Saturday, 31 December, 2005 Robin said:
hahaha.
counting down for 2006 in singapore
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
At Sunday, 01 January, 2006 said:
enjoyed reading the write-up. many thanx for you kind words. enjoyed the trip throughly. was very surprised of the stamina that i had yesterday. (played futsal in the afternoon, attended banquet dinner and countdown til 3am). waking up this morning, 9.15am, my arms are sore. (more sore on the left arm) kayaking is indeed a great way to keep fit. as for kuroni, robin and pandabonium... i hope we can kayak together someday.
cheers again fh2o. kayaking sg. sarawak is definitely an experience i'll never forget.
At Sunday, 01 January, 2006 FH2O said:
Glad that u enjoyed the experience yesterday.
kuroni (joe2c or jungle joe) is in town and robin pops in from spore once in a while - so kayaking 2gether can be arranged; however panda is many thousand of miles away unless he flies in on his private jet plane!
hmmmm still had plenty of stamina left? dont worry - will take u on a more challenging trip then next time!
At Monday, 02 January, 2006 day-dreamer said:
At Monday, 02 January, 2006 FH2O said:
the one of me is especially wonderful rite? ha ha ha!
At Tuesday, 03 January, 2006 Vynne said:
At Tuesday, 03 January, 2006 Happysurfer said:
An interesting post as usual. Tks.
At Tuesday, 03 January, 2006 FH2O said:
At Tuesday, 03 January, 2006 FH2O said: