2007-07-24 Also Island Sunset

The sun is low in the sky when I drag the canoe down the beach to go home to Sequester. The Also Island beach faces Southwest, away from the prevailing easterly trade winds,so there's rarely a wave of any size breaking there. I push off gently, slipping quickly into the bottom of the boat over the low side to avoid tipping it over. I lift the double paddle from its chocks and start the rhythmic stroke, dipping close to the rails to move the craft forward rather than swing it from side to side. I skirt the strange, overhung sandstone shoreline to stay out of the light headwind, then angle out across the bay toward our trimaran. Five minutes, and I'm hoisting myself onto the wing deck, pulling the canoe up behind me to store it out of the water for the night. To the South and East the horizon is dominated by the craggy, tree covered hills of Vanua Levu. Low, whispy-edged grey cloud scuds off the hills, drifting over us, threatening to shower us, but releasing little in the way of rain. To the North, with the breeze this light and quiet, I can hear the ocean swell breaking on the outer reef a mile or more away, a soft but powerful rumble that always leaves me a little uneasy, even this far on the safe side of it. The horizon there is cluttered with layers and puffs of slate grey cloud. But as I turn West, looking over the tiny village of Qarnivai and the low hills of the peninsula there, the slate grey is suffused with the rays of the setting sun. There are specks of the grey sprinkled through the layers and puffs of brilliant neon copper/gold. Where the cloud is torn to leave the sky clear, the color is not normal sky blue, but a glowing turquoise. The water under
Sequester is aquamarine, the breeze is warm on my skin. This is part of the reason I wanted so badly to come back to the tropics. Warmth, gentleness, stunning beauty in the water, on the hillsides, in the sky. I've seen breathtaking beauty in the mountains and coastlines of two continents and hundreds of islands. But it was often cold and harsh. Breathtaking beauty with comfort.....hard to beat.
Ted
PS....In Fijian, Q is pronounced as a hard G in English.