It is rare that I get on the water during daylight hours at this time of the year. My usual routine has me on a board or in a cockpit by 5:00am, starting the day in the best way I know how. I am looking forward to June, however, when a 4:30am paddle means warm breezes and a killer sunrise. When the uniform-of-the-day is shorts and a t-shirt and birdsong echoes off the cliffs and hillsides.

For now, I have this dark sky and shadows along the shoreline. I can see the ripples and waves reflected in the lights from shore, when I can see the lights from shore. Rain drops are never far away and the sounds of seals behind me are the only sign that they are there. When I get home, I will hang my wet outerwear on the hooks behind the wood stove and start the fire. I will pour the rest of my tea into a mug and drink it slowly in the quiet moments that remain before the day begins in earnest.