I'm back from trip, which has been an incredible experience! I did not have very high expectations, but I've become seriously addicted to kayaking. The first day we (11 guys from family) spent learning about the gear and how to behave in a kayak. It really takes a lot of time to prepare for a trip, especially when it's this long. We had a trial run around the area and I ended up in the water once, lucliky that was the last time too.
The next day we set out on our journey into an area with 6600 islands in varying sizes, with 2 guides that followed us the first few hours, just to make sure we had it all under control. Eventually we split up, the guides went back, and we were left on our own. The weather was incredible, with eerily (!) calm waters and warm weather. We were about to learn why it's called "calm before the storm".
About 2 hours later we could hear thunderclaps in the distance behind us. We could see the skies were turning darker and slowly catching up with us. I think no one at this point thought much of it, but it came closer and closer until it started drizzling and we could see lightning bolts. We decided to make a break for it and go to "shore" on a small islet in the middle of nowhere, and nowhere to hide. The wind picked up immensly and lightning struck down all around us with heavy rainfall. It was getting intense! Eventually the storm passed and we decided to move on once the waves were getting smaller. We weren't far from our destination, so we thought we'd make it there.
About half way out we saw another front coming right at us, and this one turned out to be even worse. The waves were getting huge and the rain was making it hard to see very far. We got seperated into 2 groups of 4 and 7. We decided to make use of a technique we learned at the course where you line up the boats next to eachother and hold on to each others paddles(?). This turned out to be an extremely important tip, as the waves were so large that it would have knocked us over easily seperated. We lost sight of the group of 4, we were worried to say the least. Now we were floating in the middle of the sea, drifting back into an area without any islets or dry land whatsoever, and we had no way of knowing how the other group were doing, or where they were. I was seriously fearing for our lives for a few minutes, don't think I've ever been that afraid ever.
Luckily we caught a break and the weather calmed down enough for us to make it onto the closest islet, and what do you know, the other 4 were standing there waving at us! They had been in contact with rescuers who were on their way. We would not have been able to make it to our destination that day, the weather was bad the rest of the night. 2 boats eventually came and picked us up and took us to the island we were supposed to go. Reflecting upon this bizarre day, we could finally kick back with hot bacalao and cold beers that were waiting for us. Phew. The next day we heard a 19 year old had lost his life in the same weather close to us.
Here's the house we spent that night. It's designed for kayakers and people traveling with boats, looking for a place to sleep and eat.
The second night we spend on a tiny island called Brasøy. It was surreal to dock in the middle of the ocean and find this high standard place with every conceivable conveniencies available. We were in the house on the right. Turns out this picture was too large to see in full in this post.
The rest of the trip was smooth sailing. I've already planned to go again with brother in the near future.