Four weeks from today I will be in outport Newfoundland and as quickly as possible I will find salt water. It won't be difficult because the friends I'm visiting live on Notre Dame Bay, next stop Ireland, and their view to the ocean is spectacular. After time with them I will head out to Change Islands where they have the saltbox house at the top of this photo. We have stayed there several times and it is always wonderful. I will drink in the quiet and the solitude and the sounds of the sea. The inhalation and exhalation of the tides is the breath of the planet and it is as though my own rhythms alter to this deeper, truer reality. On one occasion an iceberg sat out from shore and we have seen humpback whales from the hilltop.
Today is World Oceans Day and the statistics abound as to how seven billion humans are emptying the seas of living things and replacing them with masses of plastic and sewage and errant oil. I think I saw that a large cruise ship produces 200,000 gallons of sewage a week.
And yet the oceans are still home to extraordinary diversity and raw, unpredictable beauty. No matter what the weather, I will be rambling about by the water,peering into intertidal pools and scanning the horizon for creatures great and small. The thought of it excites me and I can already smell the unique tang of this part of the ocean, distinct from the Pacific and the Caribbean.
For me the ocean waters are a gift from God, one I receive with tremendous graititude. I know that I can be part of change for the better. Even though I wrestled with how responsible it is to hop a plane to that part of the world I always return inspired and with greater determination to make a difference.
Any thoughts about oceans today? Have any of you lived near salt water, as we have twice? Did it change you?
5 comments:
Have not lived by the ocean but have visited on vacation a few times - NFLD is on my bucket list for a tour ...
"I Must Go Down to the Seas Again" by John Masefield is one of my favourite poems. I try and get to salt water at least once a year. My father-in-law lives in Lancashire (Morecambe Bay), so I get to spend time watching the waves etc for about a month every year. I find it a time of rest, and peace. But I also love the seas when they are wild. Water is good!
We love the open water. When we lived in Calgary, as much as we loved the mountains, we missed being on the shores of vast lakes. Have often thought that the stork might have just dropped me at the wrong home as surely as I was meant to live by the sea. Newfoundland is our summer trek this year. Look forward to eastern hospitality, slower paces and the sea.
Newfoundland is definitely on our list of places to visit - and after looking at that picture, I think it may have to be next year(sorry, France wins out this summer).
I love the ocean and have been fortunate to stay in oceanfront accommodations on numerous occasions. I can't think of anything more relaxing.
It's great to see all of your reflections on being near water. That photo above is idyllic and doesn't provide enough detail for mosquitoes and blackflies to be evident!
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