words & art by shé

bookshelf

Tag: swimming

  • In Praise of Floating Boat Hooks

    A piece of advice: given the choice of letting go of the boat hook or releasing the mooring line, always release the mooring line! Otherwise the current and Habibi’s momentum will wrench the boat hook from your grasp (which you’ve used to catch the line), and you will watch with dismay as both line and hook…

  • Bioluminescence

    Camped by Bahía Concepción under a fullish moon, I rinse my hands in the water and sparks fly. Delight! Skimming handfuls of sand across the surface elicits underwater fireworks. Bioluminescence. Years ago in Florida, I noticed the same phenomenon. So I stripped and dove into the Atlantic. Every stroke was a miracle, light streaming from…

  • Ganesh

    Did you know that elephants can swim? Even float! Their trunks are built-in snorkels. I have not seen this with my own eyes, but saw a photo in one of Dr. Sylvia Earle’s books about the ocean: the image stuck. How many things seem impossible, but aren’t? Like surfing, or writing a book, or pirouettes.…