Last night as the sun was setting I went out on the sponson to look out over the water and get my mind off things, as I often like to do. The air was nice and calm with the only breeze being created by the ship moving through the water. I sat watching the waves trying to decide how I could describe the images that would hopefully be forever captured in my mind. The water was difficult. It almost looked like used engine oil, but not quite that black.

As I kept trying to figure it out, I gazed out at the wispy clouds which seemed to be floating on the water at the horizon while some of them seemed to be hanging low enough that I could reach out and grab one. I decided that even though I had never heard of it, the clouds looked exactly like grape flavored cotton candy. At this I decided that the ship appeared to be sailing through an ocean of grape soda, the only other color being the white foam created as we sliced our way through the gently rolling waves.

The dark purple and blue sky above me slowly blended into shades of orange as my gaze settled to the horizon where the sun had slipped from view. I have to admit, I never knew there were at least three shades of orange, but I saw them that night. With the grape cotton candy clouds hovering strangely just out of reach, the atmosphere was almost eerie, but overall was calm and intriguing.