{"id":3925,"date":"2015-09-12T18:28:26","date_gmt":"2015-09-13T01:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3925"},"modified":"2015-09-12T18:28:26","modified_gmt":"2015-09-13T01:28:26","slug":"magic-in-the-stars-at-sea-09082015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3925","title":{"rendered":"Magic In The Stars \u2013 At Sea \u2013 [09\/08\/2015]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NorthernLIghts\"<\/a>Some things are even beyond a once in a lifetime experience. Once, what feels like a long time ago, I lay on my back on the wooden planking of the aft deck and stared up at the most beautiful full moon that seemed to swallow the sky\u2026I never thought I would get that feeling again; and then suddenly tonight, there was something even more incredible.<\/p>\n

Five years at sea, and at least three seasons in Alaska \u2013 I have never been able to see the Northern Lights. Never far enough north, never a clear enough night, or just always working.<\/p>\n

Last night Amras and I were finishing packing up from the set in the upstairs lounge and just as he was about to shoulder his bass and head downstairs, one of the guest entertainers comes almost running through the door<\/p>\n

Guys! The northern lights are huge tonight! Get out there!<\/em><\/p>\n

And we look at each other for all of a split second, drop karaoke books, instruments and all manner of other things and head straight out and up to the observation deck.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re going to be a bit cold but\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

So what\u2026come on!<\/em><\/p>\n

Almost not knowing what I\u2019m looking for my first reaction is that I didn\u2019t see anything\u2026and it\u2019s true, I didn\u2019t\u2026because you need extremely low light pollution for the aurora to show its colours\u2026and until we actually climbed the stairs and turned the corner into the observation deck itself (where there are no lights) all I saw was black..<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t see\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Um\u2026hello\u2026look there\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh\u2026my\u2026god\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Nature\u2019s fireworks; miles wide, fluctuating and shifting like living jewels blazed across the throat of the sky. I have never seen anything like it. I just stood and stared up, not caring about the cold, not caring about anything, just being swept away on that ever changing river of stars<\/p>\n

Welcome to the northern lights hun<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s just its\u2026I\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that out here we live a national geographic life. We see things that others can only dream of. In the middle of the ocean, we are the only human-driven light, and the stars arch above us so many diamonds; you couldn\u2019t possibly count them. Standing there, tucked into Amras\u2019 side in an attempt to keep warm, I have never felt smaller or more insignificant, and yet more oddly reassured. Alaska has a habit of throwing big life-changing moments at me, it knocks me down and then builds me back up again\u2026and sometimes, reminds me that under all the petty day to day concerns\u2026there are sometimes things so incredibly breathtakingly beautiful.<\/p>\n

Standing there, looking up at something like that\u2026nothing \u2013 not red tape, not timing, not petty disagreements or bitter arguments \u2013 matters at all\u2026<\/p>\n

What matters in moments like that, are the sudden and breathtaking reminder that there is still magic in the world\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some things are even beyond a once in a lifetime experience. Once, what feels like a long time ago, I lay on my back on the wooden planking of the aft deck and stared up at the most beautiful full … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,4,80,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alaska","category-below-the-waterline","category-northern-exposure-2015","category-summer-contracts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-11j","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3927,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3925\/revisions\/3927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}