On The Water

Ray Downey out on the water in Jackie's Kayak on a quiet, December Sunday.

Jackie and Dave bought Kayaks last summer: it means finally we are connected to the large body of water that lies, literally, at our doorstep.

Being on the water is different than gazing out upon it: not better or worse, just very, very different, and it takes me places.

As I sit in Jackie’s little white Kayak with it’s double keel and little window in the bottom, I can almost hear the loons and an occasional splash in the penetrating stillness that hung over Tie Lake in the early morning when I was a child, fishing, with Doug Stuarts older brother.

I hear laughter and remember the ‘big raft’ and how it brought people from all over the lake together: creating memories and friendships that are still with us. 

For years I was a Red Cross Swimming instructor playing largely with the people of the South Country on the beaches of Surveyors Lake.  I knew that lake from many perspectives.. I watched as the trees turned green and the water warmed up to the point where an influx of Albertan ‘summer people’ replaced an occasional local on it’s shores.  Mary’s family and mine joined in the madness of hot summer days.  We were on inner tubes and blow up toys, looking back at the beaches where people ate sandwiches and potato salad: barbecues were almost always prohibited because of the fire-bans. Sometimes we could even see the smoke as the interior of BC went up, yet again, in flames - but we were safe.. on the water.

Lake Koocanusa, which isn’t a lake at all but the damned up Kootenay river, is busy in the summer with jet and water skies and houseboats.  When the water gets high enough and warm enough we go for a swim.. climbing down the steep banks on stairways made by a community that wouldn’t have access to the water if they didn’t work together.  Kragmont has a huge sense of ‘community’.. because of the water.

Here in Madeira I have been pretty much a spectator.. separate from this community as my visits are never quite long enough to develop friendships and I never seem to get out on the water. 

But that is changing.  Enough years have passed that I am finally seeing familiar faces and beginning to feel a part of the place.  And now that I am finally able to get out on the water, a new dimension is added.  

Looking at the world from the water is a totally different perspective.  You have ‘crossed over’ and are looking back: distances are shorter, time stands still..

Making the trip from Prince Rupert to Hartley Bay on a fishing boat is one of my favorite memories.. not in-spite of the rough weather we encountered but probably because of it.. just being out there. On the water… I feel alone, but not lonely.  Being on the water fills me with joy, contentment, a sense of peace: absolute quiet.

Being on the water provides space to connect: with nature, the community myself. 

Hey Dave.. thank you!