Gunkholing...

...My latest favorite English word. "cabotage" in French. Here I admit it sounds much more exotic and mysterious in English. The word in itself is a mouthful: Gunkhoooling.

That is, cruising in shallow water and spending the nights in coves. I recently had the opportunity to go for an overnight trip with a fellow liveaboard friend of ours on his boat to Hope island. Always a wonderful experience to view your world from the water, which provides a different perspective. In Paris, it is the "bateaux mouches" (Fly boats) cruises on the Seine river. Where I live on the Skagit river I like to take the little motor boat to Skagit bay and see the wildlife there. This time I got to see La Conner from the Channel, and all that is behind it on the way out to the bay: Shelter Bay, I didn't know it extended so far, and it is well named, as I saw the indeed sheltered bay for the first time, then a rundown Robinson cabin, then a tugboat working on logjams, then the loooow tide at the mouth of the channel, and the birds, the birds, the birds, and the wake, the wake, the wake! and then out to Hope island. The hike on shore reconnected me with the best of the Northwest's wild, as usually I couldn't help collecting a few stones, small pieces of drift wood, and such treasures. The pinnacle of the trip however was to sleep on the roof of the boat, in the open air. It was a long time I hadn't done this, and that was a so peaceful night. The moon on top and everything. I woke up several times during the night and admired the reflection of the moon on the quiet waters, felt the slight breeze on my face, smelled the iodine, felt the movements of the boat, and went back to sleep more peacefully than ever, listening to the water moving, and as I was falling back asleep, I could hear a lullaby: Gunkholing, gunkhooling, gunkhoooling, gunk.......holing....gunk....holing.....holing....gunk.......holing.....