THE BLUE AND ORANGE OF OUR SAILING JACKETS ARE THE ONLY COLORS

The Inside Passage is very narrow. Sometimes barely 100 meters wide. Yet some days it's so gray and one-dimensional that we can't tell the water from the sky or the craggy mountains next to us.

When the rain pours down on us like a thick and heavy curtain, it is as if we are sailing into a very narrow bay with no exit. When I’m dropping anchor on the bow, all Tjaart sees of me from the cockpit only a few meters away is a misty shadow.

On good days, the mountains color grayish-green against the sky. Countless contours combine to form soft lines on the horizon. The cloud cover shows whimsical shapes. Veils of mist envelop the knife edge peaks in a mysterious light. Clouds hang low in the valleys and pour their raindrops over the evergreen landscape.

Even without sun, nature takes on all the colors that the scarce daylight grants it. The cold makes nature extra fresh. As if rain, frost and wind woke her up and sharpened her senses.

Therefore, despite the elements, it is wonderful to be outside. To feel the raindrops on our cheeks mix with the salty spray that blows over the bow into our faces. The cold of a few degrees above zero burns that sweet-salt mixture into our faces. As if nature wants to give all those already immense impressions an extra stamp. The strong wind blows relentlessly in our faces. Her gusts are literally breathtaking and sound like screams through the rigging.

Nothing or no one around us. No other boat, no living soul. Nobody on channel 16. Even the whales don't show up here. Just us in nature. A single seagull skims above us. A few birds rest on the waves and take off just ahead of our approaching bow. Their fluttering wings touch the water tip-first as they accelerate. Once they have some height, their wings sound like hinged blades in the sharp gusts of wind.

A bald eagle sits proudly and stoic on a treetop. He ignores the branch that nearly collapses under his weight, mocking gravity. Nature here knows no compassion. Doesn’t let herself being dictated or directed. Knows no imposed blue, orange or even gray. She decides for herself how she gives color to her life.