Truck Inner Tubes

Floater’s Blog: Laguna Date March 30th 2024

I joined some friends in escaping the madness that befalls San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua each Easter. Our trip took us to Granada for a couple of nights and then to Laguna Apoyo for a couple more. The festivities were demonstrably more subtle in both locations although there was still quite a good showing of revellers in the water filled volcanic crater.

In Granada I suppose I could have ventured down to the lake for a float or even dominated our tiny semi-indoor plunge pool in the center of our colonial Airbnb. I did neither.

I did however get out on the lagoon. First, was a little paddle, into the wind up the coast, in an inflatable kayak provided at our accommodation. The powerful wind was creating fairly decent sized waves for such a little lake while the inflatable boat was acting a bit like a sail, so hoisting a cold frosty was not going to be an enjoyable activity. Instead, I just made this an exploratory mission with a strong paddle one way and an easy glide back which allowed me to study the coastline with ease.

Second, I relived my past in a black inflatable tire tube with a Toña in hand. This brought back some great memories!

Cottage country in Ontario two to three hours north of Toronto was our playground whether it was visiting our cottage or going on a canoe/kayak camping trip with friends.

At the cottage, actually a little complex of rental units named Hilltop Cottages which I helped some friends run for a few years, we would get out on the lake with our big black inner tubes. I attached a mesh bag to mine to hold a few cans - to save visiting the shore for the next round. We had various sound equipment in The Pines, the cabin closest to the shore, where we could play an old turntable or a blaster. From this we strung a cable further along the shore to the left speaker for really good stereo separation and cranked the volume. I could float way off shore and hear it very clearly. I hope the neighbours liked our choice of music? Probably not when we were doing our punk thing.

We used our floats for sporting events like throwing a football or Frisbee back and forth or to somebody standing on one of the docks. Sometimes we would challenge ourselves by getting into a standing position straddling the tube with a leg on each side while playing catch. If a throw went wide then you could just dive for it creating a spectacular 'Kodak Moment' (the precursor of Insta, for those who don't know).

The biggest thing I didn't like about those old truck tubes was the giant valve stem. When you clambered back on top of the tube after a great catch, or more likely a miserable failure, you had to make sure the valve was pointing down or suffer a violent jab when you plunked your butt in the hole.

We also relaxed a lot on board our rubber floats listening to tunes like taking in Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon or maybe some Roxy Music or Eno. I'm sure I suffered a few sunburns (and probably some hangovers too) through extreme chilling and having too much fun.

Night floats were always very special. Firstly, they were limited to good evening temperatures which are not that often that far north and then again you wanted no clouds to be able to see the vast expanse of rural night sky. I believe Puff The Magic Dragon may have even joined us for a few floats!

Get on a tube and enjoy some Transcendental Flotation!

Corliss Buenavida

beer float.calm = beerfloat.net not beerfloat.com