We imagined that news report as we struggled on the water. Kit and I live near Puget Sound. See the blue dot. We had bought an inflatable rowboat to easily transport in our little truck. Blake Island, only 1.1 miles away, appeared near and inviting over calm water.

I had always imagined tides like rocking water in a bathtub. So they may be on an ocean shore. But tides must flow in and out of an estuary. Puget Sound’s forty cubic miles of water moving toward the ocean on an ebbing tide has a lot of momentum and does not change direction easily. But when the tide changes, the sun’s gravity pulls water in from the ocean to clash with water flowing irresistibly out. Estuaries even when smooth on the surface can be full of currents and opposing streams of water. We saw one large whirlpool where flows passed each other.

The currents gave us quite an adventure. Eventually, we realized that rowing almost directly into the current was necessary to get home. You may think I’m going to make an analogy about the adverse currents of life. No, my advice here is that if embarrassing news reports are all the danger you face, then try it. Oh, and we’ll be getting a motor for our boat.

Drew