East in East-West Channel

A surprise reveals itself on further inspection. Of course it was interesting from the start, but then we ventured with the dinghy—this time without the motor—into the back bay; an ancient Chinese landscape appears. Packs of lilies float: some just opening, some majestically white with yellow stamens, and below in the tannin-tinted water their siblings start to unfurl and head for the surface.

A loon’s plaintive call breaks the silence, but plaintive makes it sound trivial. It is not. The call is from the main channel where our unpopulated boats swing at anchor. Where is he, oh there he is. He’s just come around a large bare round light brown rock, islet really. Another cry and then he submerges and is lost. Later in the day he will surface outside my pilothouse door larger than life for loons are big birds. This one is at least a yard long, black and stealthy, white priestly collar but with the red beady eyes of a vampire.

The wind gusts from the NNE. We are protected here and barely feel it, but the dinghy does. It pushes us down into a small bay, though not before I misjudge the bottom and put another ding into my Chippendale-like dinghy. I resign myself to this for it verges on stupidity to bring a varnished wood boat into a land of rocks.

This is not a Japanese garden. It is definitely Chinese. The rocks jut out over the water and are made up of vertical striations. Moss and lichens populate every groove and in the low spots the remnants of Spring’s iris cluster together. These rocks have grottos and caves in miniature. And though it is peaceful here I can feel the violence of their birth. The molten lava may have cooled billions of years ago but I can still feel the heat. I can see it flowing. Hear it hiss as it hits the water.

It feels violent, an odd reaction to have in such a peaceful place. I feel the earth move without it moving. I feel the lava flow without it flowing. In a few places I see glaciers scrap the surface of the volcanic rock smooth. This is a godly place. It is a place to feel the earth’s origins.