Boats and a Beach Walk

                                          Photo: S E Ingraham, by permission.
From my journals, October 2013
Living on a Boat is many things that one does not see in the glossy magazine ads. A lot of work is involved keeping my home shipshape and one must always be preparing for the future.
With winter on the horizon, one of those items is to fill my diesel tanks for heating and emergency generator use should the power go out in mid winter. There is no fuel available in our Bay so a pleasant 9 mile cruise to the west brings me to Bluffers Park and the Marina there. I was their only customer that beautiful midweek Autumn day and they were happy to see my 1000 litre fill.
I used this opportunity to revisit a beach I have not walked since my youth.
There have been many changes in my half century of absence and I struggled to see past the stone and concrete of now to view the undeveloped shoreline of my early years.
The fine road down to the marina was once a ravine we had to traverse to steal apples from the orchard in the seminary. It then became a garbage dump to lay the foundations for the road and eventual marina. We would climb down there in the spring with smelt nets and lanterns during the smelt run. Memories of bonfires on the beach, friends from that time and the carefree joy of youth flooded back but I could only guess at the locations we used in those days. The marina development has erased almost all the old features.
Walking east brought me to more familiar views and a lesser impact from recent development.
Here the Bluffs are at their highest and I recognised the paths where I and my friends would climb down to spend the day. One of my best friends had a home that backed to the highest point yet it had a good path to the shore. This was our normal route to the beach.
Walking further, I came to the area of the home where I grew up, not visible from where I was at the top of the Bluffs but still recognisable in my memories.
I looked for the wreck of the Alexandria , a paddle steamer that was driven ashore a century past, but new shoreline works have removed all traces.
Nothing remains the same.
And some things never change.
The waves still kiss the shore and the beach goes on.
Walking back to my boat I reflect on those times. The responsibilities of adulthood had yet to impact our lives and our only duty to the day was to be home before the street lights came on.
I wonder what the youth of today would see on this beach if they would only take a moment to lift their eyes from their texting and look at the majesty surrounding them.
I truly enjoyed this day and my walk on this beach.
I enjoyed my memories.