September 2021 - Page 3 of 3 - Pam LeBlanc Adventures

Try this water-resistant wallet for wet adventures

by Pam LeBlanc | Sep 13, 2021 | Blog

This water-resistant wallet by Allet weighs less than half an ounce. Pam LeBlanc photo

I spend a lot of time getting splashed with water in my line of work, and it turns out that I need a water-resistant wallet in my life.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my leather kitty wallet so much that when I had it stolen while I was in New Orleans 12 years ago, I immediately ordered a replacement. Then, when the zipper on the replacement broke, I ordered a third – used, from eBay, because the company had quit making them.

But sometimes, a heavy, fat, leather wallet won’t work for me. I’m heading to the Grand Canyon soon for a 15-day trip down the Colorado River in an oar boat. I’m going to get wet, along with all my belongings.

My Allet is perfect for watery adventures. Pam LeBlanc photo

Normally I wouldn’t even take my wallet on the river (what would I use it for, exactly?). But I’m hiking down to Phantom Ranch to grab a seat on a passing raft, and I’m going to need a credit card and ID when I get off in a different location. (Logistics are complicated!)

Allet makes a good water-resistant wallet

Lucky for me, a company called Allett – think “wallet” without the “w” – sent me a durable, water-resistant ripstop nylon wallet to test. I’ll stuff it in the bottom of a dry bag, and if all goes well, I’ll pull it out at the end of the trip, contents intact.

The wallet, a lovely shade of dark red, holds up to 24 cards, plus cash. It measures 3 5/8 by 5 inches and weighs a hair over half an ounce. It sells for $44 at www.allett.com.

I’ve already tested it out. Stuffed with my driver’s license, a credit card and a little bit of cash, it’s about as thick as a flour tortilla. It’s big enough to hold a plane ticket, too, which will come in handy since I won’t be carrying a purse on the plane. My only complaint? It’s a little big to fit in my jeans pocket comfortably.

I’ve been using this wallet or one just like it) for more than a decade. Pam LeBlanc photo

My Allet won’t take the place of my kitty wallet, but it’ll come in handy on assignments – most of them! – that involve dirt, mud and water.

← If you love to swim, explore the kettle ponds of Cape Cod Paddler West Hansen set to start Great Alabama 650 →

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If you love to swim, explore the kettle ponds of Cape Cod

by Pam LeBlanc | Sep 9, 2021 | Blog

Pam LeBlanc wades into Sheep Pond on Cape Cod on Sept. 7, 2021. Chris LeBlanc photo

You can keep your chlorine-infused swimming pools and crowded ocean beaches.

When in Cape Cod, I head for the kettle ponds, shimmering pools of water formed when huge blocks of ice melted at the end of the last Ice Age, leaving behind depressions that eventually filled with water. In all, about a thousand such ponds pockmark the Cape, and if you love swimming as much as I do, they serve up the equivalent of an all-you-can-eat buffet.

I’m visiting a friend who has a family home midway up the Cape this week, and as I always do when I visit, I’m making it a point to take a dip in as many kettle ponds as possible.

If you prefer swimming in natural pools of water like I do, this is the stuff of dreams. It’s also nice to know that the burgeoning local population of great white sharks, drawn to Cape Cod by the exploding population of seals, never visits these inland ponds. (For the record, I’m a fan of sharks and scuba dive with them frequently. I just don’t like bobbing at the surface without gear on when they’re in the area.)

Pam’s favorite kettle ponds

A girl swings on a rope tied to a tree at Flax Pond in Dennis, on Cape Cod. Pam LeBlanc photo

In the three days I’ve been here so far this year, I’ve swum in four ponds – Flax Pond, a circular, pine-lined oasis of tea-colored water where you might find a kid swinging off a rope swing tied to a tree but you won’t find crowds; Upper Mill Pond, where you can glide out to a pair of floating docks and take a breather; Slough Pond, which you can swim directly across on your way to investigate a kids’ camp on the other side; or my favorite, Sheep Pond, a hidden gem of a swimming hole with a peaceful lagoon and some overly-friendly ducks.

These ponds feed my insatiable desire to swim in natural bodies of water, where strands of aquatic plants tickle my toes, and a fish might nibble my kneecap at any moment. I love the adventure of it, and the feeling of getting close to nature. I’ll swim to the center of one of these ponds, spin slowly around to admire the surrounding screen of trees, then dive beneath the surface before surfacing like an otter.

Something about swimming this way, in a deep, kettle-shaped pool designed by nature, without stripes on the bottom to guide me or walls to constrain me, makes me happy to the core. It feels old-school, and I bet it hasn’t changed much in the last 100 years.

So many visitors to Cape Cod are bent on finding the ocean. I like the occasional swim there, just for fun, but when I really want to log some distance, I’ll take the ponds every time. Next time you’re in Massachusetts in the summer, you should too.

Sailboats are anchored at Upper Mill Pond on Cape Cod. Pam LeBlanc photo

← Castle Hill Fitness launches free Weekly Workouts at Waterloo series Try this water-resistant wallet for wet adventures →