Laughing with delight, we pinch ourselves to be sure our eyes do not deceive us.

Constance Difede from the Eastern Siberian Sea Tuesday, 23 August 2016

Oh what a night!!

Just when you might think we have seen it all, we have had another extraordinary. The celestial bodies have come together to reveal an out-of-this-world spectacular. The sunset has given us an alpenglow, for hours on end, with the deepest of oranges, pinks and purples streaking across the sky.  The sky is filled with friendly dragons, eel, fruit loops. A three-quarter moon has risen through the mackerel clouds, shining its light on a mirror of silver sea.  It is so flat you could waterski, were it not for the bits of berg scattered about. Some of the icebergs are of a significant size, but tonight, appear benign as they take on the shapes of characters from a children’s storybook.

We are ice helming, by moonlight, in a fantasy land. It is a time of indescribable beauty. Laughing with delight, we pinch ourselves to be sure our eyes do not deceive us. This place and time is unreal, but  real. We concentrate to commit this Kodak moment to memory. Joy fills the air… And just when we though it could not get any better, the aurora borealis appeared, spinning in the form of a pinwheel across the sky, with Venus shining as its crown jewel.  We are privileged to witness this magical kingdom.

We pause to salute our ancestors,

This is why we explore.

Constance