"All words are symbols that represent unspeakable realities. Which is also why words are magical." (Donald Miller tweet)

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

the Maritimer

Sunday afternoon, Spike and I walked down to the bay near our house. We took our usual route, out around the very edge of the land, so that we can hear the water slapping against the pier. Rounded a corner, and saw a HUGE ship, right in front of us. It was big.

For those of you who live near an ocean ... you probably wouldn't have thought it was that big. But we're on one of the Great Lakes, and this thing was suddenly looming in front of us, about 30 feet away. Big ships don't normally come this far into the bay. I had to stop and back up - my head couldn't quite cope with the sudden size. We moved closer - it didn't even bob in the water. No swaying or pulling of the ropes, nothing to indicate that this massive creation was afloat in liquid. It looked like it was nailed to concrete. Boats that big don't bob, I guess.

We continued on to Williams to get a sandwich. The port authority board in there said that The Maritimer was in for maintenance and repairs. This morning, as I got up, I heard a horn sound in the harbour. My guess is it's on its way out.