he recalled other sailing trips : boat races up and down the coast of his village in his fathers canoe , sheltered by kaa-meer-gehs dark , reddish bulk to the northeast ; lazy days fishing with friends in the quiet northern bay , their canoes bound together into a single raft , so that when they became bored with fishing they would take turns diving off into the sun-hot muddy water , one of them always keeping a lookout for the gaashaw-skura venomous water serpent that paralyzed with a single bite and dragged you down to its nest in the reed roots .