The Apple Watch follows me almost everywhere, but sometimes the smartwatch leads me to my next adventure. Not long ago, I was scrolling through the seemingly endless list of activities that the Apple Watch can track.

Despite my home's proximity to open water, I had never before done stand-up paddleboarding (SUP). My water sports were either wading or sometimes canoeing, as long as someone was holding the oars.

But once I decided I wanted to try everything, I found an affordable beginner SUP lesson at Adventure Paddleboards on the East End of Long Island. On a perfect summer afternoon, I dragged my father to the bay to test my balance with the water.

Before getting on the board we rented, Cheryl, our instructor, showed us proper form and gave us some basic SUP tips. She also warned us that paddleboarding, while seemingly relaxing, is a great core workout. She called it a "relaxing exercise."

Thanks to the paddling workout option on my Apple Watch, I now know how much of a relaxation exercise it can be. My Apple Watch 6 does not automatically detect paddling like walking, running, or swimming, but it only took a few taps to add the type of workout to the list.

Immediately after securing the board to my ankle with a Velcro strap, I started the paddling workout. Then, although the Apple Watch can be submerged up to 50 meters (about 164 feet) without any problems, I enabled the water lock to prevent accidental tapping of the screen due to water pressure.

But I may have jinxed myself. On my first attempt to get up from my knees, I fell into the water. I recovered, laughed it off, put my seawater-soaked baseball cap on my head, and began paddleboarding back and forth in the calm cove. Eventually I found my stroke.

The activity tracking technology in the Apple Watch, and in many good smartwatches and good fitness trackers, keeps track of the movements associated with a particular sport. I'm not a fan of the "paddling" aspect of sports. So my smartwatch recognized the severity of my paddling, along with changes in my heart rate, and calculated my exercise minutes and calories burned.

And let me tell you, SUP is a serious workout. In 70 minutes at sea, my heart rate averaged 120 beats/minute and my activity calories were 437. I doubt if these totals are entirely accurate, but from the exhaustion I felt after the paddle, it appears that my SUP excursion was sufficient exercise for the day.

Now, if I were to paddleboard more regularly in a less controlled environment, I might download a watersports-friendly Apple Watch app like Paddle Logger. Paddle Logger not only records workout metrics The Pro version ($6.99/month) also has a virtual race feature and tools for mapping your SUP adventures.

That's not to say I won't paddleboard anymore. In fact, I'm hoping to go at least one more time this summer, and when I do, I'll bring my best waterproof speakers and download music to my Apple Watch for offline playback.

But this little experiment has made me want to try more activities that the Apple Watch can track, from archery and fitness games to fencing and squash. If I can get over my fear of horses, I might even try dressage. Let's call it a workout bucket list, shall we?

So what's next, now that the Apple Watch 7 has watchOS 8, Tai Chi seems like an obvious choice. And the balance lessons learned on the paddleboard will come in handy on land as well.

If you have any health or workout questions about the Apple Watch, check out these questions I answered for my dad, who recently tried the Apple Watch.