It's mid-January so --- duh --- it's also brutally cold. The quay's free shuttle bus takes us inland and we walk back before extremities freeze up. Mixed signals this week, though. One block away there's the first robin! But on the ice it looks like a swan has died, trapped in an ice floe.
Not to worry, a water taxi plows through and the dormant swan goes neck-up, disturbed from its warm position. The outboard does an ice-breaking 360 and plows to the dock, like the Little Boat That Could. And out again --- self-serve Ice Breaker!
Other craft are out there. A police airboat, like those in the Everglades, powers over ice or water. The fireboat came by (before ice) to practice tight manoevers. Another day, a larger island commuter taxi chugs in.
Did you know that a boat's life preservers and rafts have to be serviced every couple of years? Me neither. A lift-crane comes onside, the container is removed and taken away to be renewed.
The surface below us can be dramatic. One day it shimmers like gold or silver UFO's. Another day it's like looking at millions of stars in a dark sky.
Dawn is earlier these days but clear and cold. The ice forms and sparkles like chunky diamonds. Geese romp on the ice surface, making the best of it. Ducks on the other hand look for open water and avoid the worst. Are you a goose or a duck??
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