Music Moves Us Through Alaskan Waters
Nature’s drama is heightened when you listen to your favorite tunes.
I’m gliding across still glacial blue water in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. In the distance snow-covered peaks are etched against a mottled sky. Gulls are soaring, then skimming near the water looking for food. Every few minutes a salmon jumps from the icy water then dives back in, giving the gulls hope.
It’s beautiful but it becomes truly spectacular when I plugin my earpieces and shuffle through my favorite songs. It’s been a long time since I listened to music but I still remember all the words — and all the drum beats — of the familiar tunes.
I rarely escape into music anymore, especially when I am in nature. In the wilderness I want to hear the bird calls, listen for a cracking branch that could signal a predator.
On the ferry I felt protected as the hum of the engine lulled my brain. I put my headsets on and the world is transformed into a soaring, pulsating oneness.
The gentle strum of the guitar dips and surges with the ocean waves, reaching a crescendo as a pod of dall porpoises speed through the waters beside us, playful but serious in pursuit of a tasty meal.
In the water, chunks of ice from the Columbia Icefield float by, a bleak reminder of the rapidly warming earth. Some are white, some glacial blue, and all are fascinating in their cold beauty. I am mesmerized, a tourist on the eve of the apocalypse.
Across the blue water the wispy white waterspout of a submerged whale breaks the surface calm.
A sea otter floats by on its back, basking in the sun.
And still the music accompanies me. A woman’s voice, clear and young, sails with the gulls as they ride the wind, full of grace now.
This bird is sailing, all other motion suspended, providing me a moment to reflect.
I am floating with the bird, weightless, when I feel the pressure of tears forming in my eyes.
I had forgotten how music can create the perfect backdrop for nature and I want to join it, spread my arms to stay steady and ride the wind, too.
All photos by the author except the seagull.
