Light fades, the sea rolls

September 11, 2023, 7:05 am , by Richard Lutz

Richard Lutz pushes the boat out

With hot weather covering west Scotland like an uncomfortable blanket, it causes an eruption of sunsets.

Not to explain the obvious (but I will anyway), this technicolour horizon has five dimensions: the orange sky, the outline of mountain ridges that knife through The Isle of Arran, a silver sea tinged with pink, the ragged spine of rocks off my local harbour of Maidens and a tidal bay that reflects the dying light but seems, strangely, as if it’s dotted with snow. The picture was taken by a local resident who has seen these sunsets all her life.

But there’s only so much you can do with a phone camera. If a 360 degree shot could have been taken, you would see a chunk of a silver dollar moon in the eastern sky. Tailing behind is a twinkling dot, probably Venus. Nowhere in sight, by the way, is the black hole recently discovered that devours stars and planets. It contains up to 100,000 times more mass than our own minuscule sun. For now, I’ll stick with our pitted moon and its escort.

The hot weather pushes everyone towards the sea. Including me. There’s is a roll, a gentle heave after heave of waves in the bay.

My kayak rocks and bobs with the motion. The heat makes me drowsy and I could fall asleep…a stupid thing to do in a 13’ lightweight craft that sits really low in the water. Kayaks have been known to attract the attention of nosy seals or frisky dolphins. Or flicked by bigger beasts like the passive but huge basking sharks with twitchy tails. Falling asleep in a bouncing kayak could also mean a sudden dip into the bay populated by barrel jellyfish that’ve been pushed northwards by summer waters.

That kind of stuff keeps you from drowsing. Especially the jellyfish…. I push past them and through that shield of harbour rocks profiled the evening before in the sunset. The current squeezes the rolling water through gaps and crevices. Gulls, cormorants, herons and shags perch on the sharp edges. Oystercatchers patrol overhead.

The seabirds don’t like me nor my yellow kayak. All fly off in a huff when I approach and then head through passages where waves get a bit choppy.

Never has it seemed so warm. Never has it seemed so humid. So quiet.

Photo credits: Janepix and Geograph