SUN SET.... MOON RISE

We was down in the Caribbean sea somewhere between nothing and the edge of the world doing ''maneuvers'' and playing war games.It was supper chow and I walked out of the hatch and across the fan tale flight deck to the very stern of the Norton for a smoke and ''contemplation'' ….... It was just about sundown and the sea was a mirror. I truly mean this guys. The ocean was dead calm, no ripples, no waves, nothing, just the wake of the Norton doing maybe five knots. In my ''sea time'' I saw the ocean like this maybe three times at most. It is caused by a very high pressure system pushing the water flat and it only works if there is zero wind. This is what I was told by a ''weather bird'' friend of mine. Anyhow........
I lit me a coffin nail and leaned against a set of ''horns'' that are used to tie the ship when we are in port. Jim Price, a buddy of mine, ambled over and leaned on the other ''horn'' and asked for a light for his ''Lucky Strike'' ciggie. He took the Pall Mall from my lips and lit his Lucky and pitched my ciggie over the fan tail into the ocean. He laughed as I shook out another and he would not give me his ciggie to light mine. Back then ''sea stores'' ciggies were ninety cents a carton. Cheap as dirt......
We were making idol chat when I asked Jim if he ever seen the ocean this smooth. ''Nope, cant say as I have. Sure is pretty aint it''?
There is occasion when at sea during a sun set with the weather just right the Sun will turn into a ball of fire as big as a mountain. She will be gold and red and orange all at the same time and She will cast a streak of gold and orange across a still ocean as wide as a house. That is what happened that evening but it gets better. It is not generally accepted but when you look at a ''sunset'' you are not actually looking at the Sun. The actual Sun is behind the horizon and what you are seeing is the reflection of the suns rays thru the atmosphere being refracted (bent) as the sun goes down. This is why you can watch a beautiful sun set without going blind from looking directly at the sun. (I be snart dont I)....... Anyhow........ The sun was setting to our port side and there was a harvest moon rising on our starboard side. A harvest moon is a '''moon'' you can actually harvest crops by because of the bright light it cast on the ground. The moon was bigger than a barn and the same color as the setting sun. It created the same orange and red path across the dead calm sea that the sun was doing because the moon light is the reflection of the suns rays. (I'm showin off now because I know this and two other pieces of worthless information) I have seen ''harvest moons'' where you could actually set outside and read a book by the lite when we were running ''dark ship'' (no outside lights at all)...... Me and Jim stood there spell bound and watch the transition from daylight to dark and the complete process took maybe three minutes. Five at most.
The ocean ate the sun and gave birth to the moon and we stood there smokin ciggies and slowly killing ourselves and watch the complete process while the Norton steamed north at about five knots.
''I aint never seen nothin' like that in all my Navy days'' Jim said.
''Me neither, wish we would have had a camera to record it''
''You goin to the movie tonite''?
''Yep''...
''What is the name of the movie''
''Aint sure but it stars Jack Dempsey, Marilyn Monroe and Hoot Gibson''
''Oh yeah, I seen that in Norfolk. Its called ''FIGHT, MAKE LOVE ( I cleaned that up for the general public), or GO FOR YOUR GUN''....
So it went on the Norton a thousand miles from nothing between nothin and nothin heading north on a mirrored ocean ….


Seajay the sailor man
ps. a few days later we were in the Vacapes Opp area in waves 15 to 20 feet high in a blinding rain storm.....