I was really excited for my first activity, we had been told to wear water proofs and a life aid. I knew what a life aid was because I’d done water activities before. I just couldn’t wait to get my hands on a paddle; ( a long pole with flat plastic on the end ). We were doing canoeing with Aaron and Pablo.

After some time we arrived at the slip way where the canoes are, they were Canadian canoes which means they hold a lot of people ( about 3-4 people in one!).  Once we had lifted the canoes by the shore, we had to tie two together with a long pole of wood. To do that we had to tie the pole to the canoe, which we did in the end but I let go of the stretchy, bungee sort of rope, so it came back and hit me in the finger. It hurt for a few seconds but then it died down. After that we got our paddles and got in our canoes, but then we had to get out to push our canoes in the water. Eventually, we got in the canoes and set off.

It was easy at first but when we got further out, the waves were pounding and pushing against us. We arrived at this corner where there were fish about a foot long, we saw two of them. Also in that area Pablo told us a story about French soldiers raiding Fishguard and women pretending to be men which scared the French off. Also he told us that Black Bart used to sail on that same estuary. Later we had sailed over to another stretch of the water to play a game, basically you were given a number and Aaron or Pablo would shout two numbers out and those two numbers would have to swap places. When we had started, Seren was the first one to shuffle across the wood pole, it was easy for her but when it was my turn, well I shuffled to the middle easy as pie but then I made a mistake by reaching over to the other side because I lost balance and fell in, every one was laughing and I was laughing with them. I was the only one to fall in !! Next we made a mad dash for the shore, we had got there first even though Aaron kept splashing the girls. When we had got to the shore I said “hello” to Mrs Arthur and told her about it.

Canoeing was really fun and so was the rest of Llanion Cove. My favourite part was probably falling in. Canoeing was epic.

It was a nice sunny day. And I couldn’t wait to go canoeing, the bad part was that  we had to wear horrible wet suits, but over all it  was fine. Whilst we were getting the canoe into the water we had to walk in squelchy mud.

The canoe felt really fast on the water. We went really far out from the shore, we stopped at a grassy bank and had to sing Grand Old Duke of York whilst stomping . We also  had to walk on a pole to the other side of the canoe. Everyone was jumping off the canoe into the mud. When we  were going back we went to an army base which was really rusty. It looked disgusting, the waves  were really strong, the canoe was going up and down. We had a best belly flop competition. It was really fun, it all sounded painful but I just fell into the water and it was ok. When we were going back we almost hit the old building. It was the best part. by oscar

It was really fun and when I say fun I mean REALLY fun.

At first I thought i was gonna be REALLY bad at it, but I was actualy pretty good at it.
at the start i was going really fast but after that i went a bet slower and got confused on
how to control it but i still think i was good when  I was failing, it was still fun aswell.
after a while I started to get better at it again, then we had to try to stand up and paddle, I found that the hardest part, and then i started to get the hang of it but then I sat down and started to paddle normally because i found that a lot more fun than standing up. Then the instructors  taught us how to shake our board while we were on the back of it and then we were able to do it while standing up. Then I fell off the board which was sorta fun. At the end we had a competition of who could stay on the board the longest, two people went on a paddle board and had to shake each other off, i was the first on with Ruben and I won but i didn’t win in the end. That was the last thing we did. The paddle boarding was my favourite of all and the whole trip was fun as well.

It was the last morning of our superb stay at Llanion Cove and my friends and I were doing SUPB!(Stand up paddle boarding)

I had been waiting for this moment to come for the whole of the trip because the other groups had said how fun it was and, it was something that I had never done before so it would knew and exciting to me! Although, there was one downside to doing this….. we had to put wetsuits on! Doing this task was horrible because the past two days people had already been wearing them and they were still wet and cold! I braved putting the wetsuit on and got it on the quickest. This meant that I got the first pick of shoes to put on so I could get the right size. Getting the right size shoe wasn’t easy if there was already lots of people there because they always take the ones that you want.

Next, we met our instructor who was called Aaron and he was very nice and was also very funny so we had a laugh here and there! He showed us how to use our paddles and paddle boards safely and efficiently so that we could get into the water quicker and so that people wouldn’t get beached everywhere!(though some people in the previous groups did)

When we did eventually get down to the water I was glad that I had my wetsuit on as the water was ferosiously freezing and the cold was biting at my legs like a monster trying to eat me. But I didn’t let that stop me! I was first in and shared a board with Suri because it was doubles. This only happened because it was a strong wind and currant so if we were in doubles then we wouldn’t get stranded because we would be stronger and less vulnerable.

To start of we stayed on our knees and just paddled around getting used to our surroundings until Aaron (the instructor) said to try and stand up. Suri got up first and then me. Although, after about 30 seconds we both fell into the estuary and I laughed my head off so much that I couldn’t get back onto the board and Suri had to pull me back up! After we fell in once, we kept falling in because Suri kept wobbling the board which made us fall down every time we tried to get up! Also it never helps if you have got 17 other out of control boards colliding into you all at one time. By the end I was a pro at this and could stand up for five to ten minutes without falling down and just as I was about to beat that time, Suri pushed me in making me do a front flip into the surrounding, salty sea.

When I got out of the sea I was as frozen as a ice cube and couldn’t move an inch! When I got back to the changing room I was so happy to see my towel and dry, warm clothes sitting there waiting for we to put them on. Getting my wetsuit of was as easy as putting on a hat. I dried quick and was changed first again. The other girls wouldn’t stop talking and had only just dried off when I had finished but, even though I really wanted my delicious dinner, I had to wait for them! So I sat down and did my word search which I had brought because I estimated that this may happen. It took the others about another half an hour to change and by that time, I was not impressed. They gathered their things and we went for lunch.

We ate sandwiches, crisps, fruit and a fredo chocolate bar. Whilst we ate we discussed our favorite part of the trip and we all announced the exact same thing…..STAND UP PADDLE BOARDING! This is because (as I have probably already mentioned) it was amazing, fun, unforgetable and I was able to share that activity that I loved the most with all of my school friends!

By Millie

it was wet… REALLY wet. The rain had been pouring down a minute ago but I wasn’t bothered, I just couldn’t wait to get paddle boarding.

we were going down to meet our instructor and, because it had been pouring a minute ago. Our instructor first told us to get our wetsuit on, showed us how, gave us all a wetsuit to get changed into. When were changed, he gave us an oar each and showed us how to use it then gave us a board, but before that, he showed us how to hold it. when we got to the water, he told us to put it in at knee deep so we don’t scratch the board. we we went in two by two and paddled to his instructor, got told how to backwards paddle to turn around and we went back. I was quite fast. when I got back, I was told to paddle into the seaweed, which I later learned was called bladderack. When everyone had done that, we went down towards a huge, rusty old ship. I was almost there when I was told to come back. That was when everything went wrong. I was paddling back when I accidentally went past the buoys that we were not supposed to go past, because it was too windy and I was being pulled away like some others. The mans assistant had to come pick us up. when we got back from that, we went in and put all but one paddle board next to the wall and he put it out on the water and asked us to get into pairs. I paired with Jack. We had to get on the board and rock each other off but even though I stood on the grippy side and Jack on the slippy, he managed to knock me off, I even had a good start! When I got off, I went to the losers side then, I started throwing bladderack around and Luke sarted cringing away from it  and he was quite scared of it so some people started teasing him.

It was our final day at Llanion Cove, and next we had paddle boarding. I woke up energetic and happy, at 8:30 we had breakfast it was: beans on toast or cereal I went for a lighter option of cereal.After that we went to meet our instructors.We got ready yet the joy was gone when we had to put our wet suits on!( which were still yet and smelly from yesterday. yuck!)Anyway,half an hour later I finally had my wet suit on and we went to go and get our paddles.we had a practice before we got on our boards.

Soon enough we had our boards yet only four of us got out to begin with as the sea was choppy and foam was flouting in amoungst the slimy  sea weed, in the end me and Millie J were on a board together. It was tons  fun until we fell off.