A post from my friend Conrad... I lost the Kayak!

Some days in rainy season bring out bad judgement. Being wet and bored can make one yearn for a little adreneline. It´s been raining steady now for about a week and a half, but what started last night and continuied all morning was heavy. Young volunteers interested in saving the turtle population make their camp down the beach and live simply with no electricity and water they must turn on every day to fill their tanks. Normally they cross the estuary and walk through the castle like clockwork. And sometimes when the estuary is too high we use the sit on top kayaks to run a taxi shuttle. That brings me to this morning when two volunteers asked for a ride and I didn´t open my eyes or my brain wide enough to appreciate the conditions. It was between low and high tide, but the volume of water from rain was creating a very strong current running out to sea in the estuary. I ferried the kayak across and reached the other side down by the beach because the other end of the estuary was just a carved wall of sand and rushing water. At this point I should have appreciated the strong current and said nope it´s not going to work to get back across, but what the hell. There were two guys, but only one goes with me to attempt the crossing - the current is very strong and just getting in the kayak proves difficult. We finally get a good launch and we´re headed across toward the beach parking lot when a set of waves comes in and collides with the water going out - if you push two ends of a piece of paper together you´ll see the bubble the kayak was in. Kayak flips - we get it back over and get back in, but now we´re caught in the outward surge. A wave comes in and I see a chance to ride it back in the estuary - it´s good at first, but more waves hit from the side and the kayak is over again - this time we´re further out and it´s time to swim and get to safety - I tell my passenger to forget about the kayak and swim across the current until we´re clear and then back to the beach. I don´t his name, but I give him loads of credit for getting through panic attack and swimming back safely. He told me later that he developed a recent phobia of deep water being exposed to glacial lakes. This explained why he was screaming "I can´t breath, I´m freaking out, I´m not going to make it" - but as I said he calmed himself down and everything ended safely. Oh did I forget the title or this post?? No, but first I had to get myself back to the castle side of the estuary where this all began. That was quite a swim and reminded me that I´m no longer a raft guide! Back on the other side is when I realize there´s no kayak. These kayaks are very difficult to sink and yet I don´t see it anywhere. Under normal conditions the kayaks always return to the bay or the rocks of the reef. Since the tide was low I climbed around the reef still not believing the kayak could be gone. And after turning on the turtle campers water ( yes I could have just turned their water on and all this would not have happened but hindsight blah blah..) I walked again and then up to the view from Alegria - nothing. As I write this post I´m happy poor judgement didn´t cause injury or death, but I´m very much hoping to work on my next post - I found the kayak!