Watermelon

It was a hot day in Newport today.
Oh sure, it wasn't as hot as say, the Arizona desert or parts of Morocco,
but by Newport standards it was hot.

Many of us had been out in the sun for a while, and not surprisingly,
many of us were more than interested in seeing that sun go down.

Predictably, the bright ball of fire finally crashed down into the horizon once again.
Everyone knew the sun would set, but few had predicted that there would be so much color.

Yes, tonight we saw what I like to call a "watermelon sunset", with all the colors as vivid as they can be, reflecting oh so beautifully off the water.

At some point in the process, as the waning light worked its way through the whole spectrum of colors, it seemed to pause for a while on a bright pinkish-orange tone as if it had found its new favorite color (or flavor): watermelon.

Things didn't get vivid all of a sudden, of course.
We started out kinda like most evenings.

Bob and his passengers enjoying the serenity.

 

Mike heads under the Newport Blvd. bridge with a happy couple.

Then, seemingly in a matter of minutes, things got amazingly colorful.
My passengers knew they'd picked the right night to be out on the water.
As we followed my friend Mark Schooling, admiring the watermelon sky,
I told them "this doesn't happen every night", then I captured this perfect moment.

Mark, two passengers, two people in a canoe,

and two more in the water - all happy as clams at high tide.

 

Then Konnor cruised by on the Lucia with a smile.

 

Next I turned a corner and had the pink sky behind me.

Tonight my last cruise was on one of our motorized boats.

These vessels have what's called a "torpedo stern" - which is

said to leave no wake.

 

As you can see, no wake there.

See, no wake.

 

Colors changed, and then got richer, until at just the right moment I was able to snap a shot of Bob once again - this time against a backdrop that would make any artist jealous.

 

Famous Rolling Stone Keith Richards once said:

"It's good to be here, It's good to be anywhere"

So very true.

 

Tonight, it was good to be out there on the water.