Quebec is quite a different place in the summer time! It’s so good to see perspectives so low to the ground. The first shot has a powerful pallet of colors. The orange and blue contrast so well together. It doesn’t seem sharp to me, despite using a tripod if you did. Overall, I think it’s camera shake. But it’s nice to see that the background is as much in focus as the foreground (wide depth of field). Also, notice the dust bunny at the very top center? Easy to take out with the Spot Removal Tool in Lightroom.
The color looks artificial in the second image. @timtam has some good points. If kayaker was closer and head not intersecting the horizon, it would be better indeed.