Dusk to Dawn on the Sea of Cortez
Dusk and dawn are the transitory periods that punctuate a sailor’s life.
Night arises with the setting sun, and day takes hold with subsiding night, as we move along our course.
Calm seas, soft breeze… we sail easily on our track, a patient test of time. The purple rolling plain we ply reaches toward shades of deepening blue and grey, soft white clouds cast shadows against a disappearing sky of gold and violet shards of light.
Tranquility reigns in this domain as we slip into night, the moon, the sea, the wind in control, but harnessed by our sails, our ship sighs at the top of every rolling crest and pushes out wings of gossamer foam like contrail clouds trailing on the water.
White clouds hang in the sky, suspended by the stars, and then grow dark within the the glow of a silver moon, casting an iridescent glow upon the sea and coloring the night.
The Dipper hangs on a cloud off our port quarter, its handle pointing to the horizon and our destination.
Venus shines in the western sky on our starboard beam…. Our ship is but another point of light on this rolling globe of sparkling ebony.
We move slowly toward the promise of the rising day, invisible on the vastness of the dark glistening sea.
The edges of the world reflect the change at first, and then an orange and golden dawn backlights the jagged purple coast that rises from the sea.
Clouds change from wispy white to hardened shades of grey upon the brightening pink and blue of day, and morning’s haze is burned away as the sun replaces moon.
A point of land is off our port bow in the distance as the morning breeze picks up and drives us toward the other world of land and man.
