Boating Unplugged
There is nothing quite as relaxing as gunk holing your way around the West Coast, waking up in the morning to the sound of waves lapping on the hull, birds singing but … Wait! Is that your cell phone ringing?!
A couple of weekends ago we boated over to the Gulf Islands to enjoy that part of our beautiful coast. As usual, we had a fabulous time finding little un-serviced inlets and coves to bunk down for the night.
One of the contributing factors to that fabulousness was that we forgot our chargers at home and soon ran right out of battery; we didn’t carry movies, music and games, etc. either, so we were totally unplugged. Oops! What’s a person to do without being wired up in today’s world?
We like texting, especially with our friends in far away places, but we quickly got over that. Instead we enjoyed the sound of waves lapping on the hull and let that lull us into a quite state of simply awareness and observation of our beautiful surroundings. We were in a cove where a herd of about 50 cattle came down to the water at sunset to have their daily deep drink of salt water; they quietly wandered in one by one over a couple of hours and slowly ended their day in their simple water-drinking, cud-chewing way. Meanwhile, a raccoon was hunting on the edge of the water, finding his favourite morsels and on the hill top were a couple of deer feeding in the late afternoon light. The wind was light, the light was soft and the ocean was gentle. It was a great time to connect with ourselves and one another.
Now there were no children on board, so admittedly we didn’t have to keep youngsters entertained. But honestly, just as it happened when we were kids, come sundown no lights were turned on and everyone was in bed just before dark. There is sweetness in being unplugged in nature space; there’s a rhythm there most of us have lost touch with. It was soft, meaningful and relevant. The next morning, coffee on the back deck was the best ever.
In today’s world, as we pack smart phones, tablets, I pods and chargers we lose the chance to truly relax and see the amazing life that goes on all around us. So we have decided to turn it all off and get on with enjoying the rest of our time out here as we head out this last long weekend of summer. So leave a message at the tone; we’ll get back to you later.
Hope to see you out there boating….unplugged.
