The Strait

The Strait, originally uploaded by macatay.

Chameleon Bay, Sonora Island, B.C.
N50°19.025
W125°24.587
Now that we are through the Narrows, there is the Strait. The Johnstone Strait is a fifty-four mile passage bordered by tall mountains on either side. It is straight, and consequently is a famous wind tunnel where nasty, choppy seas build rapidly when the wind meets the tidal current. Quiet this evening, though, as the photo shows, and hopefully quiet tomorrow.
Strait is a good word, but I like straits even better. As in Dire Straits. I always said "the Johnstone Straits", or "the Straits of Georgia". I looked up 'strait' in The Sailor's Word Book, a fussy old book in our library written by an Admiral named Smyth in 1867. He says: "The word is often written in the plural, but without competent reason." Imagine that - ruled incompetent by an old sailor dead more than a century.