Today, I've finally reached the top level of Google's hobby artists, becoming an official Deep Dreamer!

Joining this community almost 2 years ago, it shouldn't have taken me so long to reach the required 300 Likes from fellow artists! But I've only become hyperactive these last few days, kind of a creative Attention Deficit Disorder, a real creative obsession.

I've been spending way too much time playing with a few of my favourite Lamma photos, some of them submitted to the Lamma Calendar 2018 (deadline closed last Sunday), like this originally all-green Cable Road photo:

Want to have a go yourself? But beware, this stuff can be dangerously appealing visually and highly addictive creatively! Click below, join freely as a Deep Dream Newbie or get some inspiration from my other stuff:

Alice Duncan (who got splashed here after the final of the YSW Dragonboat races a few months ago) outdid herself in joining the Lamma Outrigger race all around Lamma!

Her first-person tale (all illustrations by L-G, created from Alice's Facebook avatar):

"It is 7am on Powerstation Beach. On the left side sit the remains of a party from the night before, a few revellers are still going. On the channelright, myself and five other fool-hardy Lammaites are rigging The Pure, the lightest OC6 canoe the LOCC have. Charlotte Douglas is dutifully checking that everyone has brought enough water. Brad Tarr is securing the ama. Jose is deciding how many power gels to bring and I am staring out at the ocean wondering, once again, what has possessed me to agree to this.

After outrigging for only a few months, I am on my first paddle all the way around Lamma, a good 23 kilometres. The furthest I have ever done before is 16 and today is already blisteringly hot at only seven o'clock, so I have a few apprehensions, but try my best not to show them. Everyone else in the boat is an old hand at the sport, so as the rookie I want to pull my weight.

Once the boat is rigged Brad, our steer, talks us through the route. "Stretch at the Powerstation, then we'll have a break when we're halfway down the channel... we have not planned a huli (capsizing the boat), but if we do the balers are here, here and here... spare paddle is tied on... take a water break if you need one". I admire Brad's talent of sounding so upbeat and motivational even when talking about banalities like lifejackets. I am in seat five which is the last seat before the steer. Some paddlers refer to them as a powerhouse and some as a decorative accessory. I like to think I'm the former, but we shall see how I feel at the halfway mark. We push out the boat and hop in. Brad calls "paddles up!" And we're off. Skating over the water looking like a giant insect. I can actually hear my dad's voice saying, "well, you can't go back now, girl".

Stopping to stretch at the Powerstation and all I can focus on is the heat. Even with my Pot Bellied Pigs cap on, I am having to squint, although mercifully I am dressed properly in a high necked race shirt this time, unlike at the VRC race two weeks prior where the cross strap of my sports bra left me branded with a giant X across my back.

[Editor: Alice on Facebook: "The spoils from my first ever outrigger race.
#outrigger #raceday #rookie #tanlines #paddletan #xmarksthespot"

Claudia Tarr and Jess King zip past us on surf skis, making an incredibly difficult and precarious sport look utterly effortless.

Back in our own boat we have started up paddling again. Once out of the Powerstation and around Pak Kok we're in the Lamma Channel. The water is perfectly flat, save for the occasional wake coming from a passing ferry, one of which does actually cause a moment of panic when the ama pops up before being immediately forced down again by Mark in seat four. The major issue on this stretch is that the sun is directly in front of us which makes it difficult to see. A good outrigger stroke shouldn't make too much noise, so I am very reliant on watching the paddlers in front of me for keeping my stroke in time with the rest of the boat, which is not easy when there are a million megawatts being beamed directly into my eyes. And yet, I persist.

We take another short break about halfway down the channel and I have a few moments to enjoy the beauty of not just Lamma but also Hong Kong Island and Ap Lei Chau. I can even make out the sweeping lines of Ocean Park high up on the crest. From where I am it looks less like a theme park and more like the skeleton of some enormous mythical beast. I wish I had brought a camera with me.

We keep pushing ahead at a steady pace. This is a recreational paddle and our goal time is two hours and thirty minutes so we're taking it relatively easy. We continue on and on till the point where Claudia and Jess are waiting for us. We all agree that it is ridiculously hot and jump into the surprisingly cool water. "We're halfway" says Charlotte reassuringly. Halfway. Easy, I can definitely do that again, no problem!

As we round the second point and traverse along the eastern coast of the island I am struck again by the stunning vistas this island offers and it reminds me of how incredibly lucky I am. That and how life is weird. A year and a half ago I was bartending in sleepy Cambridge, not doing an awful lot of anything. Now I am waking up early to paddle in Polynesian canoes. I remember Jess telling me on the subject of long distance paddling that every time you change direction you find yourself in new waters and think it's a rather apt metaphor for life generally.

But beautiful as this side of Lamma is, it is also cruelly deceitful as many of the bays and beaches look very similar. After this one I reckon we'll be back at Tai Tam bay. Nope, OK, the next one. The one after this. On and on. The mountains are starting to feel endless and my arms and core are aching. But energy is like toothpaste, you always have a little bit more and when Brad starts to call for some full power paddling I find it invigorating. And with the added bonus of having the sun behind us and even a little breeze my spirits feel lifted.

Eventually the Powerstation looms into view, one chimney stack at a time. This creates the very false impression that you are nearly there. In fact, you are about seven kilometres away. We take another break. I swing my legs over the ama side and dip my feet in the water and Brad very sweetly lets me have a bite of chocolate brownie.

Finally, we galvanise and we focus. This is our last push. The very last stretch. It's a cruel trick your eyes play when you can see the beach you started off from and even though you are pushing as hard as you can it seems to come no closer. You are sweating and in pain, your hands hurt, your muscles are screaming, you can't see and the whole thing feels hellish. Then out of nowhere the beach arrives, Brad shouts the blessed word "let 'er run!" And you can set down your paddle and breathe.

Two angels in the form of Jenny Fulton and Megan Tanner have stayed behind after their own session to help us de-rig and put away the boat, which is lucky because after getting out the boat I realise I am walking like a newly born foal. "It was your first go-round-Lamma, right? How was it?" Jenny asks me. "Amazing" I respond, a bit dizzily.

I was too tired to respond properly at the time. All I could think of was a nap and some chicken wings from Lamma Grill with a draught of Hong Kong Bastard. So I will respond properly here.

It was amazing, but it was also
Painful
Exhausting
Social
Introspective

It was a real teachable moment for me. Reminding me that I often tell myself I can't before I've even tried, but how when I don't, when I'm a little bit brace and say yes, I will get in this boat, or join this team, or fly to this place, the best things in my life have come from that. I am going round again next Sunday, hopefully faster so probably with less time for epiphanies and such, but I doubt I will forget my first paddle around Lamma for a long while.

P.S. Photos from a former "Around Lamma" race...