On to Midway

The Hi’ialakai is steaming north towards Midway with calm seas and clear skies favoring her and I have just finished with my second shower of the evening; but we’ll get to the reasoning in a minute. The Milky Way is in full splendor and there isn’t a moon in sight, so the stars are spectacular. I can’t think of a more isolated place that I’ve been where literally the only light is coming from the ship, the stars and the bioluminescence of the bow wake. Ben and I were just outside and were tempted to the bow by the glint of luminescent creatures in the breaking waves of the ship. The luminescence is particularly bright tonight with the entire wave crest aglow and larger flashes, probably from small jellyfish, in amongst the bluish-green light. It was amazing to lean over the bow and watch the endless fabric of calm seas divide and light up at the passing of the ship. Our attention then turned to the stars, which seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon with out concern for where the sky meets water. The sheer number of stars was mind-boggling, making this sky looks so different from any other that I’ve seen. We were lying on the deck, marveling at the night and noticed that there was a bird sitting on top of the weather mast, which had been so carefully outfitted with uncomfortable wires, so that just such a bird would not sit there. But this one had evidently preferred the uncomfortable feet to tired wings and was riding there with the ship. I was unconcerned by this because I had strategically chosen my deck space to be a good ten feet away from the mast to avoid an obstructed view. So Ben and I quite happily continued our stargazing and conversation until we were very unfortunately made aware of the trajectory capabilities that birds have at their disposal. Needless to say our evening of stargazing ended rather abruptly and although I have been reminded that being shat upon by a bird is good luck, I am still happy for the shower.