That's really beautiful, df.
I used a brace of XA's in my kayak. I could (and now, I reveal my warped mind) paddle up to a ship anchored out in the Bay, right up next to it, set the XA by scale, and photograph the waterline. This was tricky because my kayak is only 19" wide (very long) so it is pretty tippy; this is not such a disadvantage as it probably sounds, because the body can ride with it and keep the whole thing from falling over. However, any waves that happen to come along reflect from the hull of the ship, adding a lot of confusion to already kind of dicey stability. I have a huge file of these negatives. What in the world would anyone do with that? Sometimes I amaze myself. I think it was more the challenge of doing of it, rather than the resultant images, that I found interesting. You know, some people dance. Some people climb mountains. Some jump out of perfectly good airplanes. Others may choose weird things to do on the water.
The XA is more flexible than the XA2, and far more than the XA4. I've had all of them, but no 3. The aperture priority is great. Still, it is going to give you an average reading. Since many of the ships' hulls were dark, even black, the average reading would give me an overexposure, so I got used to adjusting the ISO setting to compensate. Worked great. I use the ISO setting a lot with it, and not just for the specific purpose mentioned. It enables me to control the shutter speed, and adapt for individual circumstances. I could think in zones, actually.
I only dropped one in the water once; fortunately, it was fresh water. I took the battery right out and got it to the shop fairly quickly. It still works great.
They are wonderful little cameras.