Ode to the Sea - Keana Poindexter Jones

Acrylic ink on Watercolor Paper
22" x 30"
 
From an Aircraft Carrier Flight Deck: Indescribable Beauty
By Andy Adkins
 
USS Kitty Hawk, CV-63: 1975, Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean
United States Navy (’73-77). Flight deck, aircraft crash firefighter.
 
In the middle of an ocean, the sun seems brighter, the sky appears bluer, and the air tastes cleaner. I’m sure there’s a scientific word for this natural phenomenon, but I can only describe my own personal experience. 
From the flight deck, looking down about sixty feet to the surface, the water is so blue and so clear that now and then I’d spot a humpback whale off the bow, or a school of dolphins racing each other to see who could keep up with the ship. Or I may witness a school of flying fish. If the sun was just right, the light glistens off their transparent wings as they sail 200 meters on an ocean breeze just a few feet above the calm water.
Red Sky at Night… Sailor’s delight. When at sea, sunrises and sunsets are nothing short of spectacular. If you happen to catch the sun just as it touches the water and there’s a gentle breeze causing slight ripples upon the surface, you feel an inviting pathway, leading you right to the edge. No two sunsets or sunrises are the same. The various combinations of oranges, yellows, reds, peaches, and every hue and shade in between are breathtaking. Throw in a reflection off the ocean surface and it’s a sailor’s cocktail, waiting for your very soul to drink in. 
At night, the ship’s four propellers churn up the magnificent appearance of phosphorescence. Plankton glows a beautiful turquoise blue-green in the ship’s wake. Letting my eyes follow this miles-long pathway toward the never-ending horizon, where the indigo sky meets the water… well, it almost defies description.
There is no light pollution in the middle of the ocean… anywhere. Everything is so clear and so well-defined. The mystical moist night air fills your lungs with peace and contentment. I’d lie down on the steel deck and look up at the night sky, lit up by millions of twinkling stars. It’s almost as if the stars call to you with a warm, “Hi and welcome to tonight’s special show, created just for you.” 
And with the glass-like ocean surface, you literally cannot tell when the water on the horizon ends, and the starry sky begins. The low moon seems to beckon us to walk on its reflection across the calm waters.
Quiet, serene, tranquil—you can’t help but feel there’s a higher being out there, holding you in their arms, and loving you no matter what. You just feel you’re being swallowed up in nature’s unbound beauty. 
Out there, I realize I’m just one small being on one ship in one ocean on one planet in one galaxy in one universe. Yet surrounded by all this awesome beauty, I feel I’m on top of the world.