I spent quite a bit of time at sea, growing up and in the Navy, where the sea became an afterthought at times, even a dreaded assumption. After 3 years on my at-sea counter, I was numb to the ocean and mostly forgot about the beauty of the seas.
Unfortunately, only a few scenes were ever captured from my days in the Navy, but this one spectacular sunset was a reminder of how special that time was - and came at the tail end of my last major worldwide deployment in 2007, whilst coming home from Australia, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
There are many overwhelming and underwhelming things I've seen at sea, most of which were never photographed - from waves (most were underwhelming) to flying fish, to waterspouts (most were overwhelming, especially when flying near them as a Navy pilot). Hurricanes take the cake!
I've witnessed tumultuous seas from the bridge of a destroyer, as its bow was plunged under the shear face of 25' rogue waves in rough seas. I've also viewed the un-nerving solitude of "dead-pond doldrums" in the deepest part of the Atlantic ocean - as if any pebble thrown might create concentric rings for miles. In hindsight, this photojournal category will now be a benchmark search for anything that even compares to the many faces of the sea that I've seen to date.
Call me Ishmael. The seas are a funny place, and we humans are simply drawn to them.. After all, aren't all humans 75% liquid? We human-fish ought to pay more respect.
