Paddling on Lake Ouachita

Kayak was a sport that fascinated me since my middle school year. However I did not start formal kayaking until late thirties, when I took classes from professionals - Cutter Aquatics. For a while I kayaked with them via training classes and short trips. The first time I kayaked on my own was on Lake Murray in Oklahoma a few years ago. Lily and Justin started their solo kayaking the next year, when we went to the beautiful Beaver's Bend at Broken Arrow, OK. Nicholas started solo kayaking last year at Millwood State Park of Arkansas.
Kayaking was a major activity during our trip to Lake Ouachit this spring break. On the second day of our stay at Lake Ouachita, we went to explore the water of the lake. Our group of eight rent 1 solo kayak, 2 tandem kayaks and a canoe. It was a calm and cloudy day, not very beautiful but good for activity on the water. I started on a solo kayak, Nick and Mom, Justin and Tom paddled the tandems, Emily, her cousin and dad rowed the canoe.

Due to draught, the lake water level was 9 feet below normal, and there were not much to look at along the shorelines expect rocks. We basically paddled straight forward and stopped at an unamed island to rest and Skip stones. Then we pushed forward, this time Nick kayaked solo, I moved to the canoe sitting at the front, enjoyed the ride.
When we reached the second island, Emily, Tom and their cousin all wanted to paddle the solo kayak on their own!! As we were looking around on the island, the cousin went on solo kayaking on his own, paddled to the next island. After lunch, Emily paddled solo at island point 49. Tom paddled the rest of the return trip.
There is something magic about kayaking. Lily was attracted to kayak after seeing me kayaking on Lake Murray. She said at the time: " It was so beautiful and elegant watching you paddling the kayak! I want to try!". As a matter of fact, every time we go to kayaking/canoeing with friends who had not kayaked before, they ended up trying kayak solo enthusiastically.
This time we had our longest kayak trip in a single day - 6 hour span, about 4 to 5 miles in paddling distance. We enjoyed kayaking as always and were pleased to see our friends enjoy kayaking as well.