An early morning launch...

"The sun is but a morning star." - Henry David Thoreau

An early morning launch - the day is so fresh, so full of promise, untouched by any weariness of yesterday. Nature clearly takes pleasure in greeting the "morning star". Birds sing their hearts out, perhaps in anticipation of whatever adventures the day will bring. There's a moistness to the ground, an earthy smell rises from the still-warm forest floor. The coolness of the air is calming and invigorating in a gentle kind of way.

An early morning launch - we're on the water while it is still...still. And then the touch of an awakening breeze as it ripples the water and puts into motion the day's weather.

There is, in these early hours, respite from the sounds of excessive horsepower and the fossil-fueled bravado of the evening before.

The sound of the paddle entering the water, its stroke powerfully and efficiently propelling the narrow craft, is audible and exhilerating. Evidence of the kayak's passage dissipates in its tiny swirling wake - leaving no evidence of one having been there. The way it should be.

An early morning launch in the early morning hours - an experience to be celebrated and savoured!

D.