कास्टल टूर्स.

As of today,
I have been here in Iraq for 6 months, and have worked 84 + hours a week in intense weather conditions.
Having done this, I am now able to purchase a sizable boat for doing coastal kayak tours.

Over the past few years, some of my kayaking friends shared that they would like it if there was a safe place to get out of the elements at day's end, and so, I have responded accordingly.

To do the south west coast of Newfoundland in a kayak, either alone or with a group can be challenging and one of the most rewarding experiences known to the wilderness kayaking enthuiast.

My plan is to provide a safe dry place for my kayaking friends.

In doing so, I will offer kayak tours down the south west coast of Newfoundland, from Rose Blanche through Francois.

To make the experience more manageable I have added to my flotilla a 40 foot long-liner.

This will enable me to provide an option: Other than sleeping in the wilderness and fending for one's self, the kayaker or kayakers can paddle all day and spend a night on our newly acquired " Name to be disclosed" long liner.

After paddling all day one can come aboard and relax while a nice hot meal is being prepared for them, they can take a shower, and retire to nicely made bunks either in the forward cabin or in the aft cabin.

In the morning they get back into the kayaks and do the day and meet us at a pre-established rendezvous point.

Needless to say, I am pleased at how things have come together for this phase of our new venture.

I am excited and can't wait to get back home to go to Placentia Bay and retrieve our boat.

So kayaking for me has become more than a way to play, but has enabled me to share my experience with those who want to soften their approach to doing the coast.

I write this post from a MWR computer just north of Baghdad Iraq, and I am doing this on my 1/2 hour lunch break.

Needless to say, today, I am like a child who can't wait until Christmas day.

Hopefully I will see you and your friends on the coast that offers the most!

All things work for good to those who serve the Lord!

Dorim

टेस्ट ऑफ़ टाइम.

For those of us who would love to just get in a kayak and keep on paddling, having to take time away from the water is quite the sacrifice.

I am so thankful that I am able to not only draw upon my memories, but able to use the other side of the brain called longing or dreaming of yet another day on the water.

Now that I am literally in the desert, the opposite of the sea, God has graced me with some of the most beautiful experiences that most could only imagine, let alone having been privileged to experience.

Today I am far away from my beautiful home on the south west coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, but awake each morning at 04:50 in a war-torn Iraqi desert.

I thank God that he gave me opportunities not only to kayak, but the capacity to go back in the crevices of my mind and draw upon the experiences of the coast, to keep me afloat.

When I say afloat, I mean not to quit when the storms of life are the rule and not the exception.

I have heard it said that when opportunity knocks, one ought to open the door and have a peek.

Like kayaking, once you have left the safety of the dock, you are at the mercy of the elements, and once you have entered the war zone it is similar to that of the chop off the rock, and the only rock face one can cling to is a hundred fathoms to the deep, and a thousand feet into the sky.

For those of us who like nothing more than to be at one with nature, following the next wind, or tide, always draws us closer to the creator.

For me it isn't enough to just be comfortable, but to find comfort on the edge.

For years I missed my island home of Ramea and after 28 years I was able to return.

So once again I was able to recapture the smell of the sea and the taste of salt water on my lips.

After a couple of years of being at play with the lord on the coast, it was time to once again go through the door that had opened.

This door had lead into a large room called the Middle East and all that it entails. I made a little dough, spent a lot of dough, and within two years find myself smack bang in the middle of it again.

This time rather than working with the Iraqi men, I am now privileged to be working with Kenyans , Indians, Nigerians, Filipinos, Africans, Bosnians, Americans and even the Hondurans.

Like the days that I choose to go out in the shop, only to be blessed by the new experience, this new experience, working with such a diverse group of people causes me to let go and let God more than I've ever done in the past.


The sound of the Hawk is overshadowed by turbo powered aircraft, and the fishing loons are just a memory.


Today saw a military sharp shooter with a bag of freshly killed pigeons. When asked why he was doing such, his reply was it keeps them from being sucked up in the Jet engines.


Why is it that we find it necessary to kill everything that God has created in order to have safe passage?

At times I long for a place where man has not yet been, and then my memory and my mind would not have to question Why.



Memories from

Dorim's wharf, with a few

Whispers from the sands.

थे कोस्ट ऑफ़ tourisim

It's been nearly three months since I've paddled, and sadly it's a void that isn't easily filled.

I have taken some time out and find myself once again far away from my Island home of Burgeo and Ramea NL Canada.

Here in the Iraqi desert one can only imagine such a pleasure as kayaking on the south west coast of Newfoundland, but for me it is more than an imaginary thing, it is a memory of times when I was at one with the sea and the sea was one with the cliffs, and the birds were at one with the fish, thus it is easy to grasp the Creator in such a place.

Needless to say I long for the coast and the friends and family that are dear to me.

I know that in order to get what one wants in life there has to be sacrifices, yet it is difficult at times to weigh it all out.

So here I go again, only to use the past experiences to keep me afloat, as I used to say to my friends " this too shall pass"

Here's to the brighter days ahead, when this too shall be just a memory.

Memories from the Reach and
Whispers from the sands