I am a pretty experienced canoeist (I am in my early 40's and have been
canoe tripping since I was 7 years of age) and most of my experience has
been on lakes and tame white water. I did the majority of my tripping in
Ontario (Algonquin, Temagami, Quetico, Kippawa in QC) and then moved to
Alberta where I wound up switching to hiking. I had my 30+ year old grumman
with me in Alberta but had to leave it there when we moved. In the past few
months my family and I moved to Halifax, NS and am debating canoe vs. kayak.
I have no experience with kayaks and would like to continue tripping. My
children are 8 and 10 years of age - both of whom have had some experience
kayaking up at summer camp. Since I am so near the ocean I would love to be
able to do some trips along the coast but realize we would need sea kayaks.
All that backround covered, here are my questions:

1. For those ex-canoeists who are now ardent kayakers - do you miss it?
What limitations will I experience switching to kayaks vs canoes and what
advantages will I have?

2. Sea vs. river/lake kayak - with 4 of us, I envision either 2 X 2-men
kayaks or 4 single person kayaks. Should I assume that if I want to do both
sea and lake that really ought to just spring for the sea kayaks from the
outset or by lake/river kayaks and just rent when I want to do any ocean
trips? Since I don't plan on major whitewater, I am not concerned about the
maneuverability of the sea kayaks on lakes and rivers unless they are worse
than a canoe (which I doubt).

3. Would you suggest 4 single kayaks, 1 double and 2 singles, 2 doubles?
Pros and cons of doubles vs. singles?

4. Lastly, can anyone give some suggestions as to mid-range brands of boats
to consider/avoid and if you know of any retailers in Nova Scotia?

I know this is a lot of information but i'd appreciate some feedback.
Thanks a lot!

Shrink