Paradise...

... for Knots in the String.

The loveliest day. Images to share.

A day where the weather gods are allowing me to go boating without three days of vertigo to follow. Light and variable winds, very little swell. So we load up Olympian with a picnic, with two dry bags filled with swimming gear and pootle to Maria Island.

The sea glitters - a swathe of sequins, maybe diamonds. Winking, blinking, flickering as the water ripples.

We float south down the coast, motoring slowly, me hanging over the gunwhales to stare down into the ocean, looking for the undersea population.

At Four Mile Beach we anchor for tea and hotcross buns, savouring the slices and fruit. Flavours are intense at sea - why, I wonder? I sit on the transom, unable to resist the pull of the water. The translucence is seductive, impossible to ignore.

I swim, I float, I dive down under the surface. And I thank the sea creatures for sharing this astonishing world, for allowing me to enjoy it calmly and unhindered. As I swim underwater, I look out into the darker turquoise that is the deeper water and I wonder what’s there. Should I be afraid?

I turn back toward the boat and my husband dives in.

Later, we motor further to Return Point, round the corner to our son’s and grandson’s favourite beach. High sand dunes and a deeper shade of aquamarine but the same sand, the same depth. Odd. We swim again…

At dusk, we return the boat all rubbed, tubbed and with its navy covers pulled down tight, to the boatclub, where I watch the sun setting on a perfect day.

We realise that in the face of a world to the farthest northeast of us, where artillery rains down and people are maimed and killed, we are the lucky ones, living with this peaceful, untrammelled paradise so close to our home. And we’re grateful…