Having A Dam Good Time

We spent part of this year's spring break in San Diego. The initial draw was sunshine, of course, leaving six inches of snow on my front lawn. We are not the kind to simply sit in the hot tub or by the pool for very long, either: 20 minutes is max for any of us. So it is, when we travel, we try to do something adventurous though not death-defying. We still have not fallen/jumped/been pushed out of an airplane with parachutes on; we have not hang glided; nor have we walked foolishly onto an island in Indonesia populated by komodo dragon lizards (though one man did this week, and he is no longer around to tell the tale). That's not to say that we'd classify a wusses, either. We've kayaked down a river in Thailand, miles from anything but that snake in the tree overhead and the monkeys on the hillside. We've trekked through seriously trackless jungles atop elephants, and we've eaten native food in foreign countries...not counting the McDonalds in Chang Mai. So sea kayaking was an adventure which piqued our curiousity.
Getting into a wetsuit was among the most torturous activities (though nothing compared to getting OUT of one!) we endured. Then, there was heading bow-first into the crashing waves of the Pacific. Being the taller and heavier of the pair, I got to sit in back while my sweetie was blasted by the onrushing waves...hence the need for the wetsuit. I remained basically dry during that part. The trip itself was actually no less dangerous than some of our jaunts in Lake Michigan, but it was the idea of the OCEAN...and the sharks swimming below us, though NOT, according to our guides, the deadly kind. All in all, not as spine-tingling as some of our adventures, but we're NOT on the same level as Pedro Olivia, that's for sure.
Pedro falls into a category called "extreme" kayakers. His latest adventure involved going over the highest waterfall in South America: a drop of 127 feet which took him all of 2.9 seconds at 70 m.p.h.! The accompanying URL will show you the video.
Though not as outright scary, some yakkers in Wales have decided that cruising down the 300 feet of the tallest dam in Wales is a joyride they like to take. Check the BBC site when looking at the first one, and you'll see a link for the guys from Wales.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7961545.stm

Adventuresome? Eager for Death Wish 5? No