The Last Layer of the Ocean: Kayaking Through Love and Loss on Alaska's Wild Coast - Softcover

Mary Emerick (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0870710796 ISBN 13: 9780870710797

Publisher: Oregon State University Press, 2021

Synopsis

There are five layers of the ocean, though most of us alive will only ever see one. The deepest layer of the ocean is called by some the midnight zone. The only light comes from bioluminescence, created by animals themselves. In order to see, the creatures there must create their own light. They must move like solitary suns, encased in their own bubbles of freezing water. This layer is the most completely unexplored zone on the planet. Though it is hostile to humans, it also is fascinating beyond belief. If you had a chance to see it, wouldn't you want to go there?

The year Mary is 38, the suicide of a stranger in a nearby reservoir compels her to make a change. She decides to strike out for Alaska and take a chance on love and home. She begins to learn how to travel in a small yellow kayak along the coast, contending with gales, high seas, and bears. She explores the different meanings of home: the perspectives of people who were born in this place and others who chose it, the first peoples who have been here for generations, and the ones who eventually leave.

When she marries a man from another island, she is convinced that this time love will stick. She soon learns that navigating marriage is just as difficult as learning the ocean. Divided into sections detailing the main kayaking strokes, this memoir shows how each can be a metaphor for the lives we all pass through and the tools we need to stay afloat.

About this title

About the Author

Mary Emerick started a successful kayak ranger program in Southeast Alaska, where she lived for seven years. Prior to becoming a kayak ranger, Mary Emerick traveled around the country fighting wildfires, giving cave tours, planting trees and conducting wilderness patrols.  She is the author of the novel The Geography of Water and Fire in the Heart: A Memoir of Friendship, Loss and Wildfire. Her writing has also appeared in anthologies, national and international magazines, and regional and local publications. An essay was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2011. She currently is a wilderness and recreation specialist with the US Forest Service in Northeast Oregon, and continues to kayak whenever she can.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oregon State University Press
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0870710796
• ISBN 13: 9780870710797
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200