Saturday, March 26, 2011


Thompson Bay, Long Island, Bahamas 23º16.7N | 75º6.9W

Crossing the shallow bank from Georgetown to Long Island.

Blue on blue
shade upon shade of
blue water
blue sky
interrupted only by
blots of white cloud,
strips of white sand.

Water the color of Merlin's eyes 
or a mermaid's tail.
On days like these,
I think the sky should 
choose another color.
There's no competing 
with this electric turquoise.
Why try?

Whoever says they're "feeling blue"
is not speaking of this shade.
Floating in this sea of color
it is impossible to feel sad.

One would think
you'd grow weary
of all that blue,
and perhaps that is why
Bahamian houses
are bright pink and
lime green and lemon yellow.

Maybe after
generation upon generation
of blue on blue
one longs for a rainbow.

But not me.
Not today.

And as I mull my silly blue thoughts, we have crossed the Tropic of Cancer, the official beginning of the tropics.

Jessie Marie, in the blue.
To celebrate, we stop for a moment next to our friends on Jessie Marie, drink a toast and give a shot to Neptune.

And one surprise: conch necklaces, the girls' long-awaited reward for whooping the boys at cards -- and making it safely to tropical climes.

Blue is the color of happy.

The wind chose not to compete with the blue...
...nor did the fish.

You might also like: My thoughts on the gut-wrenching science of pink.

1 comment:

  1. I *LOVE* this post! Crossing the Gulf Stream for the first time, I ran out of words for all the shades of blue. You, on the other hand, captured the mood. I think no one who hasn't been there, can fully get it. Thank you for reminding me of that magic feeling, a blue as pure for the eyes as the ringing of a gong is for the ears.