Spring Paddling in my Inflatable Kayak

Finally the weather has cleared and my inflatable kayak got some paddle time this past weekend! We had a very mild winter but any real sunshine and warmth had been eluding us this spring here in the Okanagan. The last month has been nothing but wet and unusually windy.

After taking a road trip down South and hoping to spend my days kayaking, I was instead bombarded with more rain and extreme winds… ugh. However this past weekend was beautiful and much more like the dry, warm weather we are used to here.

My inflatable kayak and gear had been sitting in the trunk of my car for almost a month, ready and waiting to go. Last weekend my mom and I packed up our sunny weather essentials and headed to the lake.

View more of our kayaking pictures on Flickr.

The Joys of Spring Paddling

The water was as calm as glass. In fact it was absolutely beautiful as the vibrant trees along the shoreline reflected in the water and created some beautiful scenery to look at.

It was perfect spring weather… not too hot, not too windy and totally refreshing.

I inflated my kayak and as always marveled at how quickly it sets up. We tossed our gear, lunch and bags into my Sea Eagle 380X and off we went. Within minutes we were both breathing deep and feeling far away from the busyness of our daily lives. The whole day was peaceful, calm and utterly relaxing.

At the end of our paddling there were a few things that I noticed:

1. My arms were tired. They always get tired at the beginning of kayak season and I realized that perhaps I should start lifting some weights to get them back in paddling shape.
2. My two new additions to my inflatable kayak were 100% worth every penny (see below).

My Two New Paddling Additions

I bought two new things this year for my inflatable kayak…

1. The first thing I purchased was a couple of pairs of YakGrips kayak paddle grips. These are little padded grips that go on the kayak paddle to help stop blisters and calluses on your hand while paddling. What a difference they make!!!
   
   My hands used to always get really sore after paddling for some time and consequently I usually wore paddling gloves. In the heat of the summer however I didn’t like to wear the gloves because my hands would get too hot.With the YakGrips my hands were completely comfortable and there was no indication whatsoever of any calluses or blisters. I was extremely happy with the comfort of the YakGrips and would highly recommend them to anyone who has ever suffered from sore hands while kayaking.
2. The second thing I purchased was a waterproof camera. I bought the Fujifilm FinePix Z33 waterproof camera. It wasn’t a very expensive one but I thought it would work great for kayaking.
   
   It was actually quite thrilling to be able to put my camera in the pocket of my PFD and use it at any point while kayaking with absolutely no concerns of it getting wet. I am really impressed with the quality of the pictures it takes and it is such a relief to not have to be concerned with ruining it (as I have with two previous cameras).I know that I am going to have a lot of fun with this waterproof camera and am really happy with the purchase.

All in All a Great Day

The day ended with tired arms, a little sunburn (oops… I didn’t think I needed sunscreen), some great pictures and a couple of happy girls.

I can’t wait to get out again and start exploring some new areas. Happy paddling everyone!

Still need a kayak? Read our inflatable kayak reviews to find the right one for you.

Fujifilm FinePix Z33 Waterproof Digital Camera

I bought a new camera. After ruining my last two while kayaking (one dropped in the water and the other dropped on the rocks) I decided that I would get myself a waterproof camera this time.

Waterproof cameras are known not to provide as good a picture as a decent regular digital camera so I decided that I didn’t’ want to spend a huge amount of money on it. I figured that I would use it strictly for kayaking and get a really good regular digital camera later on.

I looked on Amazon as they always seem to have the best deals and I found the Fujifilm FinePix Z33WP 10 MP waterproof digital camera. The price was right and the features sounded good so I went for it.

My Research

My research before buying this waterproof camera included reading the reviews on Amazon and anywhere else I could find as well as looking at some YouTube videos that different people had put up with pictures and video taken from this camera.

The reviews were mostly really good even though it was obvious that this was not the BEST waterproof camera on the market. It seemed to me the most popular waterproof digital camera was the Canon Powershot.

I looked closely at the Canon Powershot waterproof camera but it cost more than twice as much as the Fujifilm. Granted that usually means that it will be a much better camera but I was sticking to my focus of simply using it for kayaking and water fun and not as my main camera. Therefore it was important to me to keep the cost down.

Pro Fujifilm FinePix Waterproof Camera

There were quite a few things that I really liked about this camera, including:

• It is waterproof up to 10 feet
• It has a big LCD screen (2.7-inch and 230,000 pixel resolution)
• It is little and can easily fit in the pocket of my PFD
• It has face detection technology meaning that it automatically removes red-eye and identifies up to ten human faces in a scene, as well as sets the correct focus and exposure no matter where the subjects are located within the frame.
• The buttons on the back are extremely easy to use and very user-friendly
• It has one touch movie mode that is able to capture VGA quality movie clips at 30 frames per second with sound.
• It has a very long battery life. The rechargeable battery can last up to 200 shots
• It has “intelligent scene recognition” meaning that besides being able to detect faces it also is able to recognize six types of scenes automatically. The camera will optimize the ideal exposure, focus, white balance and ISO for the scene to make sure the best picture possible is captured.
• It has a really cool feature called “blog mode” which automatically resizes a photo to a standard 640×480 pixels (VGA) or 320×240 pixels (QVGA) image size and enables 12 in-camera editing features such as zooming, miniature effect, illustration and painting.
• It is available in some great colors!

Against the Fujifilm Finepix Waterproof Camera

• It is not very shock proof or freezeproof like the more expensive waterproof cameras are such as the Canon Powershot.
• This particular model is only 10.0 megapixel resolution – there is a 12.0 megapixel version available for slightly more money.
• It only has 3x optical zoom whereas the Canon Powershot has 5x optical zoom.

Conclusion

Knowing that it wasn’t the absolute best waterproof camera on the market I decided to give it a shot. I wasn’t too concerned that it was not overly shock proof (as long as I don’t drop it on the rocks again I should be fine).

The reviews of people who had actually bought this camera were really good even though the reviews from other websites comparing it to different models were not as good. I still thought it sounded perfect for me but if you wanted a really good quality waterproof camera I do believe that the Canon Powershot D10 sound like the best one.

My Thoughts after Using it…

My camera (ordered in green) was delivered to me very quickly and I used it on my trip to Oregon two weeks ago. I had planned on doing some kayaking but it poured with rain the whole time I was there which was unfortunate – however Oregon is such a lovely place to be no matter what the weather!!

I got to try out my camera in the rain and I have been extremely impressed. For one thing it was a really nice feeling to not have to worry about it getting wet. I even took some pictures of some gorgeous water falls and the mist and spray from the falls were all over my camera and I did not have to be concerned.

The quality of the pictures is better than I expected. I had read that the underwater pictures were fantastic but for every day use it will not compare to a better model. However I would have to say that the quality of the pictures was just as good as my last regular digital camera if not better.

Overall I was extremely impressed and would highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for an easy to use and reliable waterproof camera for kayaking and all types of water fun.

Below is one of the pictures I took with my new camera of some waterfalls in Oregon. Keep in mind the weather was very bleak.

Important Tips

1. This camera comes in a variety of different colors… green, black, blue or pink (and possibly more). The prices vary depending on the color. I found the black one to be the cheapest, then the green (I bought it for $129) and the pink and blue are higher priced (quite a bit higher), so watch for that when you are looking.
2. This camera comes with 50 MB of built-in memory. I would highly suggest purchasing a memory card with this camera that can hold a lot more images. It is able to handle SD/SDHC memory cards.

Find more information on the Fujifilm FinePix Z33 Waterproof Camera.