New journeys always feel longest. Longer on foot, in the sand. Dunes and grey cedar shakes all look the same. Hightide removes all footprints and tire tracks and traces of everything. Night adds to the length and the blending and the feeling of almost being lost. Even on a fifty foot wide beach. Even on an island where there is nowhere to be lost.

First steps into moving water always bring trepidation. How deep? What is next? What is under? Disorientation of simultaneous motion and sensation. Warm waves quickly followed by cool air on wet skin. A rock underfoot. Seaweed against a leg. Something is supposed to be out there. That is okay as a thought. That is the point. But what is right here and close?

All the noised sound on the sand and against the dunes. But so much is in front. A whole ocean thousands of miles wide and countless leagues deep. Hearing all the noise behind pushes the mind further away from shore. As if all the waves and all the water were behind. And the rushing around. As if further away from shore.

Moon and stars brighter against the ocean sky’s and water’s black. Those clearer or nearer or larger distract. Staring reveals more. More than thousands of miles. Counting is fruitless. What else to do? Contemplate planets and cast. Aim the fly at constellations.

Cast and retrieve. Into the waves and dark and loud. Over and over and all the same.

The monotonous strip strip strip met with a stop and a pull. Everything changes. An already powerful creature feels much more so when the only reference is the sense of touch. Translated along a line and down a rod and into the hand. What is it and how big and where is the line? Walking backwards and reeling giving line reeling again. Ankle deep in case it has teeth. Seeing splashes but all splashes just look like splashes.

Enough light and adjusted eyes show stripes, fins, and wild eyes. Holding the wild, the rest seems calmer. Quiet and bright, all around one fish. Not warm or cold, just holding one fish. Strong from long journeys through dark and deep places. Strong enough to swim back into the dark and deep. Follow her back and start again. Casting at constellations until the shortest trip home.