Ganeida's Knots

We can't cross that bridge until we come to it, but I always like to lay down a pontoon ahead of time. ~ Bernard Baruch



It is wet.  It is cold.  The wind is scything across the bay & I am snuggled into a jacket & draped with the brown checked rug you can zip up like a coat that my mother gave me one Christmas.

It was overcast & showery yesterday too but nowhere near as cold & the lad went off to play cricket on the island oval where the sight of dolphins lazily cruising down the channel generally generates more interest than the game.

  I arrived in time to watch Dino lob a six & a couple of fours around the oval before being caught out on the boundary but by then, naturally, we were running late.  The boat we should have been on had left before Dino was out of the shower so we went to church in the tinnie.  This is not a major deal.  I make sure I'm not all dolled up.  Depending on traffic & where the car got left last time someone was over, the wind & tide et al I might find myself cumbersomely climbing ladders, clambering out onto a beach, the rocks & slippery ramp of the boat ramp or bouncing onto one of several pontoons.  Last night it was a pontoon.

Given my drathers, I'd drather the ladder & a stable jetty to cling to ~ especially if the weather is a bit rough, as it was last night.  There are 2 patches that are dodgy on the bay.  One is the Ws between 2 of the islands where tide & current battle the wind & the channel froths & bubbles like a witch's cauldron.  The other is the entrance to the marina which narrows artificially into a man made channel that periodically silts up & tends to be shallow & unstable.

Dino chose to tie up at the old pontoon.  It's further up the channel & generally more stable.  I am not a big fan of the pontoon thing.  I've seen too many near catastrophes on the things.  Last night I was a victim of said pontoon though in all honesty I was at fault for badly misjudging the shift in ballast as I clambered out of the boat.  I am now sporting a massive bruise on my foot where it caught the gunnel & a stinging scrape along the bone.  I am feeling sore & sorry for myself. 

Just the same, there is nothing quite like being out on the open water under a big night sky to make you appreciate the awesomeness of God &  just how small & ignorant you are.