I’ve been a fan of outdoor adventures my whole life but I’ve never experienced one like this. My friends and I had the opportunity to go to a sea kayaking course organized by the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Maine at the beginning of summer 2024. Although it was physically and mentally challenging, the experience was a memorable one.
When we first arrived they collected all of our phones in electronics in a tiny plastic bag to make sure we enjoy the natural surroundings and environment. I really believe this helped a lot with mental cleansing and my sleep schedule after being away from blue light consistently.
There were a total of 11 people on this trip including 3 instructors and 8 students. We used three double kayaks and five single kayaks to fit our food and water supply for the entire week. This expedition was supposed to consist of paddling to a total of four islands and ending back at the base where we started.
The first few days were pretty easy since we only had to paddle 1 mile, but on the fourth day we had to paddle ten miles because we needed to drop off the instructors at the hospital, which meant we had to go back to a previous spot we were staying at, so we had to account for yesterday’s and today’s journey.
One morning we saw a feeding whale really close to shore. Another day we paddled through seal territory. There were also jellyfishes.
That day we made it to Burnt Island which was the island we would be conducting our SOLO on. The SOLO is a dedicated 8 hours of time for each student to reflect and meditate over the past few days and for the upcoming summer by having no social interaction. I thought it was fine. I slept the entire day.
After SOLO, the next day was our longest stretch of water yet with 12 miles ahead of us.
Honestly, I don’t think I would’ve made it out well if it weren’t for the people that experienced this with me. The countless hours of singing songs while paddling in the vast sea, the motivational speeches given when others couldn’t continue, and sharing stories at dinner time. These were the things that kept us going. I am so glad I was able to be part of this amazing team.
