As promised, the short story of our holiday in Slovenia, continued...now for the wet part.
Soca river, Thursday, August the 7th. It was a typical summer day, but not because of the high temperatures, but because of the summer storms. After putting on the neoprene suits, it started raining. And as if it was not enough we had to wait for our instructors to get the permission for rafting on the Soca river. After an hour or so, we picked up our rafts and moved from the camp to the river to get first instructions. Then, for more fun, hail-stones started to fall on our helmets. Just imagine standing in 6-8 degrees centigrade water and golf ball size pieces of ice falling on your head. Lovely.
But after a few minutes the weather seemed to become reasonable. Some minor rainfall and light fog was accompaniing us for the rest of the trip. After warming up a bit thanks to some light paddling excercises, our instructors came up with some more funny news - we had to train the rescue from the flow of the river. This meant to lay into the main stream of river (still around 6-8 degrees cold), go with it for a few meters than grab the rescue rope and swim to the shore. Well the neoprene suit was unnecessary, it maybe prevented to get the initial shock, but that's where it's function ended.
As we were part of a larger "masochist" group of rafters, we had to wait for our call, it was a good preparation, believe me.
After this freezing experience we continued our journey down the river. For a few kilometers there were only some smaller waves, nothing worth of mentioning, except the beautiful landscape with its mountains, woods, we even saw the Boka Waterfall. Then, finally, some bigger waves and some slalom around some larger rocks. It was really fun.
We stopped at a large, approximately 8 meters high rock in the middle of the river. It wasn't a stop only to rest and climb onto that rock, but to jump from it into the stream. It was a good test of faith, and a real adrenalin kick, at least for those, who have never tried anything like it before.
It was also the starting point of the last (and most difficult) section of our tour, with some special advisory from our guides on how to master the larger waves and rocks. And we did it, all of us.
On the second day, friday (with baking sun - finally), our guides planned only the more interesting second half of the same route, with some additional activities, like an off hand waterslide, created by putting one of the larger rafts onto a rock.
Also "surfing" (paddling aginst the stream with full power), which went wrong for some of the group members. they had to be fished out from the river as they turned their raft over.
In the end even I got to swim (I modestly admit, that till than I was the only one not falling out of the rafts), thanks to Vaso, who probably didn't like the idea of me not to test the quality of the water (with my lungs:)).
But I really enjoyed it, it was not the typical "lying on the beach for a whole week" holiday, it was a lot of fun. Again, for more pictures, please visit my album on Picasa.
Soca river, Thursday, August the 7th. It was a typical summer day, but not because of the high temperatures, but because of the summer storms. After putting on the neoprene suits, it started raining. And as if it was not enough we had to wait for our instructors to get the permission for rafting on the Soca river. After an hour or so, we picked up our rafts and moved from the camp to the river to get first instructions. Then, for more fun, hail-stones started to fall on our helmets. Just imagine standing in 6-8 degrees centigrade water and golf ball size pieces of ice falling on your head. Lovely.
But after a few minutes the weather seemed to become reasonable. Some minor rainfall and light fog was accompaniing us for the rest of the trip. After warming up a bit thanks to some light paddling excercises, our instructors came up with some more funny news - we had to train the rescue from the flow of the river. This meant to lay into the main stream of river (still around 6-8 degrees cold), go with it for a few meters than grab the rescue rope and swim to the shore. Well the neoprene suit was unnecessary, it maybe prevented to get the initial shock, but that's where it's function ended.
As we were part of a larger "masochist" group of rafters, we had to wait for our call, it was a good preparation, believe me.
After this freezing experience we continued our journey down the river. For a few kilometers there were only some smaller waves, nothing worth of mentioning, except the beautiful landscape with its mountains, woods, we even saw the Boka Waterfall. Then, finally, some bigger waves and some slalom around some larger rocks. It was really fun.
We stopped at a large, approximately 8 meters high rock in the middle of the river. It wasn't a stop only to rest and climb onto that rock, but to jump from it into the stream. It was a good test of faith, and a real adrenalin kick, at least for those, who have never tried anything like it before.
It was also the starting point of the last (and most difficult) section of our tour, with some special advisory from our guides on how to master the larger waves and rocks. And we did it, all of us.
On the second day, friday (with baking sun - finally), our guides planned only the more interesting second half of the same route, with some additional activities, like an off hand waterslide, created by putting one of the larger rafts onto a rock.
Also "surfing" (paddling aginst the stream with full power), which went wrong for some of the group members. they had to be fished out from the river as they turned their raft over.
In the end even I got to swim (I modestly admit, that till than I was the only one not falling out of the rafts), thanks to Vaso, who probably didn't like the idea of me not to test the quality of the water (with my lungs:)).
But I really enjoyed it, it was not the typical "lying on the beach for a whole week" holiday, it was a lot of fun. Again, for more pictures, please visit my album on Picasa.
