The last paddle of 2010, and it was sweet...

High tide at the Maple Bay Rowing Club launch

Despite the "frigid", bone-chilling temperatures...

(I'll pause here until paddlers in most other parts of the country stop laughing...come on guys, it was minus 1 degree C when we launched - and this is Vancouver Island. Remember, our cold is a damp cold not the cushy dry cold that you have at minus 30 C! And hey, we don't all have dry suits - Joan says that I shouldn't be so overtly covetous about such things. I can't help it.)

...anyway, we paddled out of Maple Bay, just glad to be on the water on this second last day of the year. It was great to meet a couple of fellow paddlers on the shore, David and Richard, but they elected to head up to Ladysmith. Hey guys, I hope it wasn't something I said? ;-)

Joan out in front, Saltspring Island, Mt Maxwell, and Bourgoyne Bay (right)

Leaving Maple Bay we look out over Saltspring Island, the largest and most populated of our Southern Gulf Islands. Mt Maxwell is the second highest point on the Island, rising to around 595 metres - great panoramic views from the top!

Vancouver Island Arbutus tree dipping into the sea

Turning the corner, we head up Sansum Narrows towards Crofton, a nearby mill town. The arbutus trees reach down to the water, their full , green, leaves mocking winter (and, of course, the "frigid" conditions!). The Arbutus is the only broadleaved evergreen tree in Canada - it's pretty cool. Happy in the "Mediterranean" climate, they lose their leaves and red, flaky bark in the middle of summer. We have lots of them around our place, so yeah, we rake a bunch of leaves in late June.



Eagle...and "breakfast", on the fly

Paddling along, we spotted an eagle on the shore, chowing down (and that's putting it mildly) on "breakfast". Clearly, he decided there wasn't room for all of us in his seaside dining venue. He opened his bone-crunching talons, picked up the left-overs, spread his massive wings and lifted off - a rather "nasty" looking breakfast flowing in his slipstream!

Fisherfolk

There were a few folks out fishing (maybe crabbing?), and just enjoying this rare sunny December day.

The solar-powered  light at Grave Point

The crossing back home to Maple Bay

At Grave Point, we crossed the channel over to Erkskine Point, on Saltspring. The sun was low in the sky but the warmth felt wonderful! We paddled south to Maxwell Point and then back across the channel and into Maple Bay. A relatively brief, three hours on the water, but all in all, a great way to wind up the year - despite the "frigid, bone-chilling temperatures"!

Best wishes to all in this New Year to come!

Duncan.

PS The anticipated night paddle planned for yesterday came and went - with us warm and snug at home. The clear, starlit skies looked wonderful but the wind came up and it just didn't seem like a good idea. Ah, but there's always another day (or night).



"Dreams of happiness and visions of hope", and a night paddle coming up...

The "Gear Room" - ever-present "good vibes" - 24/7/365 :-)

There is something Zen-like about the process of organizing and preparing the equipment. When I say, "Zen-like", I mean there is a contemplative or meditative component to checking everything over, and checking it twice, even three times. After the busyness of Christmas, the quiet focus feels good. Our next paddle will be a night excursion into Sansum Narrows, and everything has to be in order.

Wet suits (dry suits would be really nice...ahh, maybe one day), paddling jackets, spray covers, and PFDs need to be checked, pockets emptied of the last paddle's odds and ends and refilled with energy snacks. Headlamps, sea lights, emergency strobe light, and VHF radio must have a battery check. SPOT satellite messenger is ready to record our track over the water. The kayaks were washed today, inside and out - yes, the excitement is building. Preparing to launch is exciting - every time, and it's been way too long since we've been out.

"Energized", and ready to go!

Going through the equipment checklist, I kept thinking about an extraordinarily beautiful poem that I came upon just before Christmas, and have shared at a number of occasions since. Turned out that several folks were familiar with the words of Kālidāsa, the Sanskrit poet and dramatist of around the 5th century.

His words, in Salutation to the Dawn, reveal an essential key to the experience of happiness and inner peace. It's all about living one day at a time, cherishing each day, and living fully in the present. That means letting go of perceived past failures or hurts and refusing to feel the debilitating anxiousness for a future that really doesn't even exist yet. I've discovered that regretting the past or worrying about the future does little more than make us sick - often in body and mind. Anxiety "sucks", in more ways than one! These are the words from a poem that Kālidāsa wrote: "Today well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope".

Here's the poem. I hope you find it meaningful too. The words are really quite remarkable. (italics mine)

"Salutation to the Dawn"

Look to this day

For it is life, the very life of life

In its brief course

lie all the verities and realities of your existence.

The bliss of growth

The glory of action

The splendour of beauty.

For yesterday is but a dream

and tomorrow is only a vision,

but today well lived makes every yesterday

a dream of happiness

and every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day!

Such is the salutation of the dawn.

Just imagine how wonderful it would be if we could look back into the past and see that time as a "dream of happiness". Imagine looking into the future and seeing it as a "vision of hope". The thing is, it is within our grasp...if we just determine to live this day well.

We'll report later on the night paddle.

Duncan.