A COUPLE OF KAYAKERS
For the Pagenstechers, owners of Kayak Carolina and Carolina Coastal Adventures, piloting boats that trace their lineage back to ancient Eskimos ranks high as both adventure and business venture.
Originally published in Southern Living
Both originate under the red roof of their Carolina Beach company, whose offerings include tours by kayak and powerboat, fishing and marine education programs. "It's fun every day," says John, who takes groups and individuals on tours of the lower Cape Fear River and other sites nearby. His wife, meanwhile, teaches somewhat-skilled and completely inexperienced customers that they can pilot kayaks and enjoy themselves. "Angela is one of the top instructors here in the Southeast," John says. "She has a wonderful teaching demeanor. She even teaches instructors how to be instructors."
EARLY RISERS
All that fun means hard work for John and Angela, especially in the summer. "My wife and I show up here in the summertime at 5 or 5:30am, depending on when the sun's coming up," he says. He adds that they have to get out of bed an hour before that. "Every day in the summer we finish with a sunset tour of some sort. We're still with the business when the sun goes down."
He's not complaining, however. "I get to take people fishing for a living," he adds. "Angela gets to take people on kayak tours and teach them how to paddle. It'a a pretty nice job."
FIRST VOYAGE
When John Pagenstecher and Angela Marshall set out to kayak the length of North Carolina’s coast back in 1998, they couldn’t have guessed that their paddling adventure would lead to their life's work or a life together.
Angela, the manager for a Hilton Head outdoors shop at the time, was already an experienced kayak instructor when she met John, a sales representative for a boatmaker. They took one trip together, 312 miles from Virginia Beach to Carolina Beach, North Carolina, over 15 days. A spark, so tiny they were barely acknowledging it by the end of the trip, grew quickly into a romance and a business.
They started with just 12 kayaks. After taking it one stroke at a time for the last seven years, they now run 150 kayaks and 2 powerboats and employ up to 18 staff members in the busy season.
HIDDEN TREASURES
The core business, however, involves boats. While the Pagenstechers sell boats, their bread and butter involves instruction and tours that last anywhere from a couple of hours to several days. They call it discovery by adventure.
"This is an unbelievable area," John says. Part of that relates to the history of the river, an area where 3 lighthouses remain from more than 20 that have been built since the early 1800s. Having immersed himself in the history, John enjoys sharing his love of the local lore with his guests.
He likes to tell, for instance, about how Fort Caswell, built during the Revolutionary War, saw numerous casualties during the Civil War. Yet not a single shot was fired; the men died of smallpox.
He's read up on the local pirate Stede Bonnett (who eventually got hung for his crimes) so he'll have tidbits to share. "We're not historians by any stretch of the imagination," John syas, "but having taken out thousands of people (on tours) we've probably fielded most of the odd questions."
NATURAL WONDERS
One of their popular tours starts at the National Estuarine Research Reserve, and the marine animals nearby always give tourists something interesting to see. "We have a number of people with a variety of degrees in marine biology who work for us so they can shed light on the wildlife," John says.
John and Angela’s kids camps draw crowds of eager youngsters to weeklong offerings that might include such activities as kayaking, fishing, field trips and projects in the marine education center.
When the school year starts, the company especially focuses on educational programs for students. Group sizes range from 12 to 117 kids. Activities may last half a day or several days.
Some schools keep coming back. "Kids from Gaston Day School stay with us for four days every fall. We pull out all the stops for them. We take them fishing, we take them kayaking, and we teach them about sea turtles," John says. "It's fun. Those kids are so eager to learn and are so well behaved, and they send us great thank-you notes."
Repeat customers leave no doubt that the Pagenstechers' customers enjoy their outings. "When a family comes out for a kayak trip, they might be in the area for a week, and they end up coming back here for three other things during their stay. If business is clicking, it's fun," John says. Still, he hopes to see the business reach its full potential financially in terms of more consistent year-round business.
"Hopefully, we can realize the fruits of the effort that we've put into it," he adds. "It hasn't been easy, and it's taken a lot of dedication. We've planted the seed, and the plant has growth. Now we'd like to see the flower blossom."
For more information: Call 910/458-9111, or visit adventure@kayakcarolina.com or www.carolinacoastaladventures.com
ON THE WATER
The season for Carolina Coastal Adventures generally runs from early-spring to late-fall. They start educational field trips for public, private, and home school programs first and then move into kayak tours and fishing charters as the days get warmer. “Our three-and-a-half hour sightseeing tour is the most popular boat tour option,” says John. “That tour and all of the others can include lots of wildlife, but we can also see and visit historic lighthouses, deserted beaches and islands, and much more.”
Other popular excursions by boat include: flexible fishing trips, visits around Bald Head Island (including the Old Baldy lighthouse), bird watching, and ferry service to help kayakers reach even more remote spots. For longer trips, they’ll provide a gourmet picnic.
The most popular kayak tour explores the bay area south of Fort Fisher, with lots of nature viewing. Other paddling destinations can include Carolina Beach State Park, Cape Fear River, Masonboro Island, and the Black River.