UnPaved Path To The Stars D41 18/06/21

Sailing the open sea is foreign to anything I’ve ever known, the meaning of normal changes, you’re free to do anything at any time, but always thinking of the wind, you can sleep whenever you want, but only when someone is keeping watch. The sound of wind and waves becomes silence, sway replaces balance, all changes except the Moon. The Moon remains familiar, comforting, like a mother or a master’s degree.

Its light stretches between us, guiding us through darkness and uncertainty. Sailing west aligns us into the path of its light, like a paved road that leads into the distant horizon.

Never has the word abyss made more sense than during a Moonless night, darkness the likes of which I’ve never experienced. Stars become boats on the horizon, waves are reduced to sound, even planktons that usually shine in the foam of waves disappear. It can cause unease, but more importantly, it inspires focus and wonder… can’t see, but can’t be seen. From my experience, most Moonless nights are due to cloudy skies, but eventually, the Moon lets us in on its biggest secret… the Milky Way.

If the Moonlight shows what’s beneath it, the lack of it shows what’s above. Clusters in the hundreds stars in the thousands, highways of satellites, and the casual comet or shooting star. Amongst the brightest stars are planets shining with a shade of red or blue.

In contrast to the Moon’s bright and detailed surface, the stars give so little, but when I look long enough if only for a few seconds, I feel I can appreciate the vast mystery that is space. If I had to try wording it, I’d say it’s looking past the 2D we look up to at night and attempt to appreciate the 3D around us.

All in all sailing in complete darkness has been one of the greatest experiences in my life. Needless to say, the unpaved road to the stars is more appealing to me than the Moon, but I’m not used to seeing the sky so clear and bright.

If you feel inspired to look up, music helps (Claire de Lune, Debussy; LSD, Asap Rocky; Porcelain, Moby), being sober not so much, anything that helps think outside the box.