The shore

The boat crested a wave and fell into the next, sending water into the air, brillant drops caught in the sun. Each wave sprayed him with the salt water, clinging and burning his eyes; its shap tang was all he could taste. The air was fresh and he inhaled its sweet smell deeply.

Searching the waves, his eyes squinting from the salt and sun, he searched for the best route. One hand gripped the wheel tightly, while the other adjusted the throttle as needed. With the slamming of the boat, his legs burned from keeping him stable, but it was a welcome pain and there wasnt much farther to go.

Billowing white clouds rose from the dark waters on the horizon, great mountians towering over the flat sea and land. Green mangroves passed seamlessly off to his left, their great tangle off roots holding against the pulses of the sea. The groves green tops were littered with the white sea birds who filled the air with their high pitched calls.

Ahead, two markers bobbed in the sea a quarter mile off the shore. The water around the channel was full of waves deeper and faster than those in the open water. Waves from the shallows on each side of the channel raced together and crashed, sending waves in every direction. He kept to the center. Along both sides were sand banks where small baitfish dashed haphazardly in groups along the bottom.

As he closed in on the shoreline, only then did the inlet into the grove reveal itself. After the first turn and behind the protective roots, the inlet lay down into a calm, smooth river. The engine throttled down to idle and sent small ripples out to the roots as it gently churned the water. The engine barely hummed behind him and the water gurgled past, the pain left his legs as the boat swished throught the dark water.

The sun dried his skin, leaving it salty and taught, and he craved water but decided to wait. Streching, he breathed in slowly, the air stronger now as the sea mixed with earth and trees. Bending left and right, the inlet snaked through the grove and led into a shoreline forest. The earth slowly rose from the water and the groves were replced with heavier trees and bushes that created a patchwork canopy over his head.

On a gentle slope, he beached his boat and hammered an anchor into the dark soil. Damp and cool, it felt good beaneath his feet. In the stern cooler, he grabbed a jug and dumped half of it over his head, its cold water shocked him and rinsed the salt from his body. He drank the rest in short time. Placing the cooler in a backpack, he checked the anchor and rope, threw the pack across his bak and set off down a small, overgrown trail. Several salamanders scurried across his path and a few birds took flight as he made his way throught the woods.

The path opened into a small clearing where between two trees a rope hamock was strung. He took the pack off and placed it at the base of the larger tree. From the cooler, he removed a foil wrapped sandwich and a can of beer covered in moisture. Chewing slowly, he ate the sandwich and watched as the trees swayed in the gentle breeze. Washing down the last of the sandwich, he finished the beer and tasted it metallic after taste rest lightly on his toungue.

He stood and stretched his sore and stiff body, then grabbed the pack and folded it over twice. Carefully he sat into the hammock and swung his feet into its base and placed the pack beneath his head. The clouds, less towering now, moved lazily overhead and he smiled as the beer and sun brought his eyes closed.