Friday, April 06, 2007

Naples, Florida. Part Deux: Sunsets

Every evening, at sunset, a large crowd would gather along the beach-front and on the beach to watch the sunset. By 7pm, people would start milling around the swimming pool and beach bar of the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club. It's a great time for people to mingle, chat and relax after a long day of.....A) laying on the beach, soaking up the sun (lazy-bugs) or B) long medical lectures and workshops (me...super hardworking). Alright, I managed to do a bit of both every day.
When the sun starts sinking down towards the horizon, the crowd will migrate towards the beach and stare at the great ball of fire for what seems like hours. When the sun finally sets, you eyes are temporarily blinded from staring for such a long period of time and you literally see stars (and not only the ones in the sky).


I had the pleasure of watching the sun set with friends for a total of 5 nights and each night's show was completely different. This was also a time when the dolphins would come close to shore and play, so we also spent a lot of time scanning the horizon, hoping to see dolphins. It was really a beautiful and enchanting time of day.


Being the doofus that I am (as a result of absorbing too much UV rays), I had forgotten to bring my camera to capture pictures of the first 4 sunsets. Luckily, on my last night there, I brought my camera along and was able to get these shots.


I shot hundreds of pictures and almost blinded myself in the process. Looking at an LCD screen with sub-optimal light is a bitch, I tell you. There were lots of oohs and aahs of appreciation as the great golden ball of fire finally touched down on the horizon. It was absolutely fascinating to watch it sink, and sink and sink. Then you suddenly realize that the air is getting cooler and cooler and every strand of hair on your arms is standing at attention because you are still wearing a tiny bikini, sitting on the beach, shivering without the sun's rays to warm you. Not to mention the fact that you have family and friends that live part time in Naples but no one has advised you to bring a sweater.....

And then you hear it. It starts out as a single clap....then more clapping... and then the whole crowd joins in the applause at the magnificent display of nature that they had just witnessed. I have never heard or seen such a thing...applause for a sunset. Then I shrug and join in. What the heck, if you can't beat them, join them.

Ok....now what's for dinner?

3 comments:

Tine said...

Wahhhhhh ... the sunset's gorgeous! Very good photo-taking skills eh? ;) I miss watching the sun set. It's sad that I've NEVER watched the sun set here in Malaysia, but in Melbourne, I caught it TWICE.

UnkaLeong said...

Low-light + Sunset/sunrise + LCD = Temporary blindness indeed. Some of the pics i take during those time , point camera in da general direction of the sun and let the A/F do the rest...

TrueBluePenangite said...

Tine: I think you take really cool pics too.Love the ones you took in Melbourne. You're right about us never watching the sunset in Msia...there's always too much to do isn't it?

Unkaleong: I must admit that I was doing a lot of that and I have lots of pictures with tilted horizons, looked like I was taking pictures drunk. Hehe. Need to get photoshop one of these days to fix my pics.