Sink or swim, Kuwaiti Kayakers reach UAE as part of campaign for marine protection

Kayakers who set off from Kuwait reached the shores of Abu Dhabi on Wednesday as part of an expedition to raise awareness of protecting the marine environment.

The team of three kayakers — Kayak4Kuwait — began their journey from the coast of Kuwait last year (November 10) and has seen them journey across the seas of Bahrain, Qatar, and now the UAE. The group will continue their journey along the coast of the UAE to reach their final destination of Oman.

"This has been quite a challenging journey from the start, we had a lot of problems that we had to overcome — rough seas, bad weather, logistical problems, and border issues. In fact, we faced one of our biggest challenges after our support ship almost sank when we entered the UAE, but we have managed to overcome all of these hurdles to get here," said Bashar Al Huneidi, a member of the three-man kayaking team.

"Since we entered the waters of the UAE, we have been kayaking alone and without the assistance of our support ship at sea, we have instead been supported by our land team along the coast who followed us by car," he added.

Al Huneidi, who describes himself as an athlete, explained that the journey also provided its set of physical and mental challenges that he and his team had to face.

"My day starts at around 4.30am, I have my breakfast and then get all the gear ready before setting off. A typical day sees us kayaking for seven to 10 hours straight, and it's usually on calm days when it becomes the hardest because we are kayaking non-stop to the point that it almost becomes hypnotising and you want to fall asleep," he said.

"When we would stop kayaking to get some rest, we would always camp outdoors either on the coast or on islands, everything was done outside and it was really a great way of reconnecting to our



surroundings," he added.

Colin Wong, who is also part of the kayaking team, shared similar sentiments, describing the journey as a big mental challenge.

"This has definitely been up there among the most challenging things that I have done in my life. We are kayaking every day for up to 10 hours straight, and in those hours and days, you go through so many different emotions — you can peak up, and then just emotionally drop, so it's a massive mental challenge that you have to get through. I would say it's harder than the physical aspect," he said.

"Despite the hardships it's been a really amazing experience as well with all the things I got to see while out in the waters — turtles, dolphins, shark and all sorts of fish," he added.

On the overall message behind the expedition, Al Huneidi said the journey was devoted to sending a strong message of ensuring the protection of the seas and its biodiversity.

"All of this is dedicated to the environment, to spread the message of saving our environment and we hope to reach as many people as possible with this message," he said. "Mother earth has been forgotten and divorced by some people, they look at the sea and view it as a dumping area where they can throw their waste away.

"The sea is something special — it is not just water, but a real living creature you can say and it gives us life. If we can make people have this perspective on the sea, it can maybe start to change outlooks and negative behaviours.

"I believe a lot of people are interested in saving and protecting our environment; we have received a lot of support and interest when people found out about what we are doing. I would say that it is a minority of people who are negatively affecting the environment rather than the majority," he added.