2D1N Sea Kayaking in New Zealand – Sun, Sea and Seals

And so we embarked on our first ever 2d1n sea kayaking in New Zealand at Abel Tasman National Park.

You don’t need to have any kayaking certificate in order to take on this expedition. But it’s a bonus if you do have one as it helps build your confidence when you’re out there kayaking in the open sea, braving the strong winds and currents. Our kayaks had a spray deck (basically it’s this tight sheet that covers the opening of the kayak to prevent water from entering) which can be quite challenging to remove when underwater. Thus that’s when your 2 star kayaking cert will come in handy. But then again, our facilitator assured us that it’s very unlikely for our 2 seater kayak to capsize due to it’s long, wide and very stable structure. Well, luckily we didn’t prove him wrong (not that we wanted to anyway).

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Bob the trusty navigator

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Spotted some lazy seals sunbathing by the rocks

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Finally, lunch time! Indomee, our comfort food for the trip 🙂

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Our home for the night

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On the second day of our kayaking adventure, our water taxi forgot about us 🙁 Waited 1.5 hours for the water taxi and still it hasn’t arrived! We tried calling the organizer but we had no reception here at this deserted beach! Luckily Bob reacted fast and decided to use our Singapore sim card to get a better reception. Despite the bad reception, we managed to convey our message across to them that we’re here stranded. Thankfully, the water taxi arrived in an hour’s time to pick us up before it got too dark and cold!

Useful information
Abel Tasman Kayaks
$110/pax/day
For us, we did the 2d1n independent sea kayaking trip and camped over night in our own tent at the park.