I drove back to North Carolina on the 14th of May, and on the morning of the 15th I went over to the NOC for more playboating lessons.

It turned out that the Tuckaseegee was not running, so Eternity Hole was not a go. However, the Ocoee was at very high levels!

In Hell Hole:

I had to pay a bit extra for a travel fee, as the Ocoee is some drive away from the NOC center. However, as the Ocoee was on my list of rivers to paddle, I paid it gladly!

I got lots of photos in Hell Hole with my SLR, but unfortunately, the rest of the river I have no photos for. Not even from the guiding companies that take photos along the river.

The day was hot, far too hot to wear my drysuit, but I wore it anyways. It turned out to be a good thing for the amount of time I spent upside down practicing playboating moves.

It was unfortunate that I had a very bad cough, and was sick throughout the paddle, thus I was also exhausted when trying the playboating moves.

The river was fantastic despite my condition, and I had a great day.

At the end of the day, when I got people to use my camera to take photos, a huge thunderstorm broke around us. At times it was deafening.

I had not fitted my seals on my drysuit tight enough, and a fair bit of water got in. However, the water was so warm, and it was such a warm day, I saw people paddling in just a PFD with not even a spraytop on!