August 7, 2018

Paddle Boarding in Daytona Beach

Paddle boarding is one of the many activities available around Central Florida. That’s one of the things I love about Florida is that there is so much to do here! It truly is living where others vacation. We don’t have to travel very far to have unlimited options of fun activities. This was the first time I’ve attempted paddle boarding. I don’t have the best balance and with the exception of boogie boarding as a child I stayed away from board sports (is that even a legit category?). This past weekend we got invited to go on a paddle boarding tour in Daytona Beach. I’ve always wanted to try it out so we were happy to sign up.

We went early since it’s so hot here in Florida, it was best to get out there before the mid-day sun heats up too much. Our tour was at 8:30 am. Daytona is about 45 minutes from us, so it was an early morning for us. Once we arrived at Three Brothers Boards, the had us sign the liability waivers and then sent us down to the water where our guide had all the boards set up and ready. He gave us a brief informative talk about balance and the the proper way to use our paddle. We entered the water on at a time, so you have a little time to practice your balance before the tour starts. I stayed mostly on my knees for the beginning of the tour. It was very easy to balance on your knees.

When I finally decided to attempt standing up, it was much more difficult than I anticipated. I gave up and stayed on my knees for most of the beginning. Once a few others had already fallen I didn’t feel so much pressure to successfully stand and not fall myself. I finally go up on my feet, but paddling at the same time made for a very wobbly board. I lasted a few minutes and promptly fell into the water. It actually was nice falling in the water because it cooled you off. The next time I got up on my feet I was doing good, but my paddling was slow and the guide said I needed to go a little quicker and catch up. Instead I fell again!

Our guide was great and very encouraging. He wanted us to get right back on our feet after falling, because it would help up learn. I needed to catch up to the group so I told him I was just going to sit and catch up for a minute before trying again. Once we got out a little further the water was a lot more smooth and easier to practice standing on the board. I was doing great for a while while we were just hanging out in place looking for manatees and dolphins. Of course once we started moving again to go in the channel that wrapped around back to the starting point I fell in the water again.

The boards are made with a handle cut into the center which helps when trying to pull yourself back on. I think my arms got quite the work out between paddling and having to climb back on the board over and over. Once we headed down channel the water was very smooth and I was able to stand up and stay up for the rest of the tour. Standing was full body work out concentrating on balancing and paddling at the same time. I’ve seen lots of videos of people doing yoga and headstands while paddle boarding and I honestly have no idea how they are able to pull those moves off.

Despite falling numerous times we had a great time and would definitely go paddle boarding again. This tour was trough a company called Three Brothers Boards. Their main business is making beautiful paddle boards that they sell in their store and online. The come in every size imaginable, and I like to think if I had a larger board I may have had better luck staying standing. It’s probably not true but in my head it makes sense.

They do the paddle boarding tours as a side business and for marketing of their boards. It’s pretty genius, actually, they get extra income and you get to try out the product before purchase. The tour was pretty fun so I’m sure it encourages a lot of people to make purchases. If I was more confident in my balance and lived closer to the beach I might consider purchasing a board. We live pretty far inland and I’m not keen on the idea of using a lake. The idea of paddling up on an alligator scares me!

The name of the tour is the Dolphin & Manatee tour. The cost for the tour is $55 a person and is for anyone 6 years old and up. Children 3-5 are allowed to ride on the board with an adult. Hopefully, an experienced one so they don’t go flying off when the adult falls. There was a child who attempted to ride on her Dad’s board for our tour. She spend about 10 minutes screaming in fear before giving up and skipping the tour.

 

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