Opua: on the breakwater
Opua: on the breakwater
We moved to the marina breakwater this morning because tomorrow and Tuesday, the day Carol flies out, are predicted to be stormy. While the long, curved breakwater is not attached to land, the row ashore is across twenty yards of sheltered water instead of a quarter mile of choppy water.
I prefer the breakwater to being in the marina itself, which has the advantage of no row at all, but where the slips are subject to tidal currents and, except at slack water, can be difficult to enter or exit alone.
As I have mentioned before, New Zealand’s proximity to the Antarctic ozone hole has improbably made it the new melanoma capital of the world. We had a vivid demonstration of the intensity of Northland’s sunlight on Friday, when we powered four miles to anchor off Pahia.
Of course my skin has had far too much sun exposure, going back to my teen-aged beach days in San Diego in the 1950ties, when no one even thought of skin cancer.
I have had a squamous cell carcinoma removed from my left leg, and parts of my lower lip and right ear removed that proved not to be cancerous.
For the past two decades I have tried to protect my skin and seldom get too much exposure while at sea. But on Friday I neglected to apply sunscreen for what was only a forty-five minute trip from the mooring. However that was followed by a 15 minute row ashore; a half hour walk to the cafe at Waitangi; and then all this in reverse. I had on a hat, but the side of my face got seriously scorched. We later saw in the newspaper that the UV Index, which is a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, now has an added level of 11+, and Friday was a 13. So is today.
While it still seems incongruous to be worried about sun damage at the same time that people are complaining about a cold summer, I’m a believer.
We watched LORD JIM last night. I remember seeing the movie in Los Angeles when it first came out in the mid-1960ties. I thought it was a bad movie then, and I think it a bad movie now. LORD JIM is not my favorite Conrad novel, but it deserved much better than this. With 40 year intervals, I will be spared seeing it again.
One of the unexpected pleasures of this website is hearing from people that I otherwise would not have. I continue to be amazed at the Internet. Emails have reached me out on the mooring from Japan, the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. Thank you for your words and interest.
Sunday, January 7, 2007