The RideAway Turtle Attack

I'm going to open this entry by saying I grew up a huge Ninja Turtles Fan, that's all I'm saying.

Cape Cod is made for kayaking. I know this seems biased coming from someone who runs a kayak company on Cape Cod but the different creeks, tidal flats, Ponds, harbors, estuaries, and picturesque shorelines allow every skill level to get out on the water within their comfort zone. When assessing an areas difficulty I like to focus onspecific points, such as current, exposure to wind, boat traffic, water levels, etc. On a recent tour I was forced to reassess this approach after a little "incident" and a new factor rudely introduced itself..........The Attack Turtle.

At a time when everyone's worried about a few annoying sharks off the coast I'm thinking we should refocus on these crazy turtles and let me tell you why I feel this way. We offer two of our tours at very beautiful and beginner friendly locations in Sandwich one being Scorton Creek and the other being Mill Creek (the boardwalk, which was highlighted in a previous blog). Recently on a tour in Mill Creek with a lovely family of 8, who surprised their mother with a RideAway Kayak Tour, we set off and went over our introduction lesson and skill assessment. The group was progressing perfectly and we were about an hour into the tour, and reached brackish water, when one of the gentleman noticed a turtle's head barely pokingout of the water.Everyone passed by and was very impressed by the size of the turtle which can reach weights upwards of 60 lbs. The last to approach the area was definitely the most timid of the group and was a little too far back to hear the comments on the size of the Turtle. The picture in her head was a turtle the size of her hand (Painted or box turtle) the ones you raise in grade school and then set free to live long happy lives.

By the time she realized her massive miscalculation it was far too late. Having just grasped the overall size and distinct prehistoric features of such a large turtle the last thing anyone expected happened. The turtle launched out of the water with his massive face followed by his stubby little arms directly towards the kayak and somehow maintained that position with arms flailing and mouth chomping a mile a minute for a good ten seconds, but all she needed was one second to go into a massive tip motion and array of colorful language and immediately put that kayak into overdrive and out of the area.

With the rest of the group in an absolute uproar I went over to investigate whatwould have caused such an uncharacteristic yet hilarious action on the turtles part. It turns out she wasn't the only turtle in the area and it wasn't so much of an attack motion as just two turtles getting weird and having this unsuspecting lady involuntarily become a part of their bedroom activities. I can honestly say it was the first time I've seen a turtle that size move that fast and come that far out of the water using strictly propulsion.

(the most famous of the Snapping turtle Tokka)

I've decided to leave the Mill Creek as a beginner friendly tour however an asterisk will be placed.