THE NIGHT OF THE SUPER MOON AT VERO BEACH

Well, it's a marvelous night for a moondance 
with the stars up above in your eyes!
As most of you might know, Saturday night was the night of the super moon, a night of a full moon when the earth and the moon would be at it closest proximity. The next time it would be this close will be 18 years from now. Phyllis and I decided to head out to a restaurant that we've discovered on a local beach (Vero Beach). The restaurant, Cobalts, has a large open patio with tables and chairs and two fire pits. It is located right on the beach and when the moon rose it would be on the horizon facing the patio. We arrived early knowing that the tables would be full, if we didn't. We arrived at five o'clock and took one of the last open tables, ordered off the bar menu and waited. The moon was scheduled to rise at 7:30 PM EST. Around 7:00 we left our table to find a spot along the patio guard rail that overlooks the beach. We started shooting some of the people walking the beach, some fishing and one couple going for a romantic walk along this really pretty beach.

Can I just have one a' more moondance with you, my love?
Can I just make some more romance with a' you, my love?


As we waited, other people started moving up to the railing and as it is at a time and place like this, especially with wine being consumed, some new friends were made. We all looked down at the people enjoying the last sunlight of the day, as night came on us.

Well it's a marvelous night for a moondance 
With the stars up above in your eyes 
A fantabulous night to make romance 


There is a certain feeling of sadness that I attribute to anyone walking on the beach alone; not when running the beach but walking slowly in the sand looking down in deep thought. Are they thinking of a lost love or someone they walked along a beach with, once upon a time? Was it some love they lost, that they could not stop from leaving, just like the evening tide moving away from them this night?  Maybe or maybe not! Maybe, that says more about me than about the them. 

You cannot be on a beach here without seeing someone fishing and tonight was no different. People were not just on the beach, a few intrepid souls were in the water and not just by the shoreline. I looked out and saw two guys enjoying the solitude of the ocean out where they were the only two.

Then someone noticed the moon rising faintly at first through the mist, coming over the horizon behind a satin like mist, barely visible at first. Then slowly it came into view kissing the horizon briefly, before going on it's journey.

As the moon rose through the mist and the day light lingered before surrendering to the darkness, it seemingly grew bolder in its attempt to master the day. This orange ball rising into the night air with so much grace and power should truly awe us, but most times sadly does not. We accept a full moon rising as we do with many of nature's magnificence: we accept it with almost a sense of entitlement. Oh, we have seen many full moons and we will see them again, no big deal. But on a night of the super moon and the build up in print and on the internet, people were looking at this full moon as it should be. It was an amazing display for humans to gaze at and admire and make us realize how small we are compared to this great planet and the universe that houses it. To remember the last weeks events in Japan is to see the beauty of it but also the power and destruction nature can bring. 


The moon has always been given a romantic aura by writers and I guess it is true that it is easy to feel romantic while watching it, if you're with your true love or your true love for that night. Maybe the moon tugs at our heart as it does the ocean's waves. 


It is hard not to photograph the moon and add your personal feelings, so that is what I tried to do. If you want to see a purely clean, scientific image you might want to head over to a site like CNN or FOX and I am sure they will have it. Here you will see what I saw with my eyes and felt with my inner eye, while watching the super moon rise out of the ocean and up over Florida.

Well it's a marvelous night for a moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance 

    As we watched we noticed a ship out in the distance moving towards the moon and its reflection.

  Moving towards a meeting between man's technology and natures wonder!

   Closer and closer almost into the moon's reflective stream.

  As it reached the reflecting moonlight I could not help but think of how this was a perfect metaphor for what the world has witnessed in the last week.

   As the ship moved into the beam it seemingly disappeared, overwhelmed by the power of nature!!

To the sound of the breezes that blow 
And I'm trying to please to the calling 
Of your heart-strings that play soft and low 
You know the night's magic 
Seems to whisper and hush 
And all the soft moonlight

Seems to shine in your blush...

One more moondance with youIn the moonlight 

On a magic night 
la, la, la, la, there's a moonlight 
On a magic night 
Can't I just have one more dance 
With you my love? 

After awhile, it was over: not the moonrise that would continue as always but the wonder of the observers waned. They smiled at each other, some even said their goodbye's to their co-voyeurs, others just turned and left without a word. The moment was broken and the night moved on.

   Maybe some were affected by what they witnessed and some were not.

  I think some were and that's a good thing: to sit and think of the wonder of our world and how powerless we really are to the forces of nature.

(lyrics borrowed from Van Morrison)