Meteor Showers and Rainbows
I was mesmerized by the Leonid Meteor shower the other night, on Thursday. Although, I missed its peak as I was informed of the display, a day late, I was pleasantly surprised at the frequency of such a show in the almost pitch black of a moonless sky.
Just at nearly my Zenith or directly above, the short streaks or bursts of light from these projectiles made for excellent viewing. The Milky Way could also be distinguished by its fuzzy appearance from North to South.
The crescent moon is just now showing itself after dark towards the western sky as it ‘waxes’ and becomes fuller; being what was a seemingly dormant “New Moon” as it now brightens into its First Quarter phase.
Showers of a different nature were witnessed with rain activity coming from within Cumulonimbus clouds. These clouds ever sprouting like wild Sunflowers among flowers painted on blue canvas, and a rare encounter of a Rainbow was spotted just before sunset off the starboard bow and through the grayish squall. Quick thinking and a dash for my camera as the moment would now be
forever burned on film.
I’ve managed to accomplish nearly seventy-five percent of my monthly Inspections, currently and this coming week will be an opportunity for fixing up some of the discrepancies noted on those Inspections. Today, I conducted the weekly starting up of the two lifeboat engines as it’s
customary to test the small diesel engines within these enclosed boats and ensure they are ready in the case of an emergency. In addition, I noticed some water in the bilges and will have to pump out this ’slop’ and dispose of, in a container suitable for this dingy or ‘grey-water’-water not suitable for dumping. I’m not entirely looking forward to this mess of a job.
I am looking ahead as holidays approach. Less than a month to go before this old salt gets to fly home! A month seems a long time, but the days are turning to night, quickly. I’ve added up the miles. To date, the ship has managed to rack up almost twenty-eight thousand miles since the start of August. Since then, days turn to weeks, weeks -to-months and the seasons come and go. Fall is now enforce.
Enjoy your weekend!
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Thank you for the great report! We were hoping to see the meteor shower but skies here in Paris are either cloudy or too bright to see many stars. Apparently it actually went on for a number of days, and there will be another “show” in December, according to this blog - http://www.meteorblog.com/
Wow - 28,000 miles! Too bad you don’t get frequent mariner miles.