A little too much excitement!

I hope you're having/you had a good birthday Jen. xx

We are in a lovely campsite right on Waiotahi Beach in the Bay of Plenty, (so named by Captain James Cook when he landed here because he managed to acquire the provisions he needed. He'd had to sail away empty handed from his first landing place further down the coast,which he called Poverty Bay, because of a violent meeting with some Maori). We arrived here yesterday and had intended to leave this morning (19 March) but it is such a nice place and the weather is so good that we decided to stay another day.
Amongst other things on offer at this site is free kayaking and we were both keen to have a go.  I'd never been in a kayak before.
I thought we would have individual kayaks but there was a 2 person one so we went for that; it seemed a good idea at the time.
And it continued to seem so as I climbed in and managed to hold the kayak head on to the waves while Lawson pushed us out, wearing our life jackets, through the surf and then hauled himself in.
We had to paddle out further than I expected to get clear of breaking waves but once we were there it was pleasant paddling backwards and forwards along the beach. Eventually though we got bored and decided to go in.
Following the directions coming from Lawson in the back I tried to use my paddles to keep the front of the kayak heading for the beach. When we got back into the surf it all worked for a couple of waves; we were carried along on the edge as planned.
But then a much bigger wave hit us from behind and we lost control. For a while it looked as if we would stay afloat but then the kayak tipped over and I went into water over my head. For a few horrible seconds the upturned kayak was on top of me but then I popped out.
Now we had an upturned kayak in rolling surf that we couldn't stand up in.
At first we tried to push and pull the kayak towards the beach but didn't seem to be making any headway. We tried to turn the kayak over again so that Lawson could climb in but it wouldn't stay upright.
Lawson was hampered by the fact he was holding both paddles. So he gave them to me. I tried to swim holding them but again got nowhere and just wore myself out.
Lawson then told me to swim for the beach and leave him with the kayak and the paddles.
It seemed to take forever to reach the shallow water so that I could stand up and wade out. I had needed the life jacket when we capsized and was certainly comforted by its presence the whole time I was in the water but getting forward momentum with one on is difficult. Until the last minute the beach did not seem to be getting any closer.
By the time I got to the beach Lawson had succeeded in attracting the attention of a group of Tongans also from the campsite and who were paddling individual kayaks. It took another 10 minutes and the help of 3 other men before Lawson and the kayak were safely on the beach.
The sea will have to be flat calm before I try kayaking again!