Buoy and Bell Ten’s Invitation: Join My 365-Day Peaceful Photo Challenge
DAY 289. Living with irrevocable differences and curating peace through contemplative photography.
June 17, 2025
The two immeasurable arms of sky and sea caught her in a firm embrace. The breeze wrapped around her torso and played in her hair, enjoying the new knots they created there. The water below rocked her as a mother’s arms would rock a baby. Wordlessly, both spoke with her in soft, calm voices.
On a gray, overcast day colored with sunrise, the 50-minute Rockaway Ferry ride felt like a dream. Since then, the woman has revisited her photos to reflect more deeply on the trip.
She left the locked-up lighthouse and sailed on, appreciating the freedom of the sea, the undulations of the waves that felt safe and homely, the lightness of the breeze against her skin, and each raindrop’s sweet touch.
Suddenly, the clang of a bell drew her to a bouncing navigational mark.
It was a Red Buoy — Number 10. She did not know what the red buoy indicated compared to the green one she had seen earlier. She did not understand the collision-avoiding choreography of the two. Still, the music that this one played won her heart. It was a resonant sound that vibrated in a peaceful direction.
Before she knew it, the ferry had passed Coney Island and the New York Aquarium. She was surprised to see so many people on the boardwalk and beach on a chilly, wet day, but understood why they might be drawn, like her, to the open water and sky.
She celebrated life for and with the people onshore, consciously communing with them.
Then, she turned her eyes once again starboard, first to the open sea, then to a deserted stretch of beach that gradually became built up with residences, and to her surprise, a World War II watchtower disguised as a lighthouse, with another red buoy near the shore, singing its song.
She was now at Breezy Point, on the western end of the Rockaway peninsula. Soon, she would be at her destination, Far Rockaway.
Buoy 10 had given her a message that this other red buoy echoed: We do not find peace by eliminating friction but by letting friction strike notes that help us steer.
Waves shift the buoy, which rings the bell. The bell warns or guides the mariner, who takes action and learns how to steer clear of danger, thereby protecting the craft, the mariner, and the coast.
What part of this 50-minute ferry trip have you most enjoyed and why?