Sea kayaking is usually a dry sport — surprising, considering that you sit about 15cm below the waterline, elbows about 15cm above.

Not so with serious open-water crossings.  For example, Duane Strosaker has kayaked to nearly every island off southern California.  His adventures include remote San Clemente Island, more than 50 miles offshore.  SCI is a naval base, off limits to visitors, so this guy made a one-day round trip of about 45 miles from Catalina Island.  More impressive is his trip to Santa Barbara Island, a tiny speck of rock 40 miles from anywhere, leaving no margin for navigational error.

This far out, it is common for southern California kayakers to encounter migrating blue whales.