Posted by red on December 8th, 2009 in Etc., Nibblets

Endless deep green-black waters cascade down into nothing, deep gullies and cliff faces beneath its silent surface carved out by the lovingly violent whims of glaciers past. The ocean meets the land at the shoreline – rugged and unpredictable. Waves lap at sandy beaches; waves slap against barren rocks. Waves carve the coastline, molding it in their wake, massaging sand to and fro, etching rocks with force and purpose.

The undulations of the oceans surface can mean many things; terror, promise or soothing nothingness – all with a simple twist in temperament. Frothy white peaks whipped up with blustering winds, screaming with rage, pummeling itself with horrific severity give way a smooth glassy surface and the whisper quiet lapping of long forgotten tidal changes. The ocean gives and the ocean takes – but it does neither with contempt or generosity. It simply stands – untouchable and stoic.

The emerald sea, it is called. The water is often opaque, and rarely clear. Often it presents itself – milky green and opaque – as a mystery. So dark and thick that looking in your shadow dissipates into its nothingness. It challenges you, making you wonder what its hiding, or perhaps, protecting. Sometimes it reveals its secrets – for a ways, at least – allowing a glimpse into its complex depths and intricately coloured decorations amidst its wide expanses of simple sand.

The emerald sea; the ocean around British Columbia. I will miss it dearly – beautiful, cold, cryptic and alarmingly limitless.