Mike's Underwater Adventure Down the Mighty Chilly Colorado River...
June 2003 / Moab, Utah
As you can see above, I got dumped into the Colorado River while riding what is called a Duckie (which is an inflatable kayak). Two concurrent lateral waves hit me sending me tumbling underwater down the river. This was not a pleasant experience... Luckily, one of the rafts with a river guide was close by and I was picked up shortly after my travels down the rapids, much of it underwater. The water was very high from a snow melt in Colorado with the river peaking the day before as far as CFM flow. The water was also very cold... it took seconds for a tightness in my chest occurred, making breathing very difficult. I also had loosened my life jacket around the arms to permit using the kayak oar's. This was a mistake because when I fell off the kayak, the life jacket floated up to the surface pinning my arms over my head. What made this a real challenge was the straw hat that once wet, resulted in the hat being glued to my head, preventing any sort of visibilty until I unloosened the drawstring to enable removing the hat... all underwater, traveling downstream... underwater...Once this was accomplished I was able to pull the life jacket down and swim to the river guides raft. Life is certainly an adventure...
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Modified June 21, 2003
