A mesmeric essay on the sea by Sir Roland Richardson.

“The sea is an immense rainbow.  It is a living, dynamic presence: with its changing moods, its extremes of calm and violence, its glacial temperatures and bathtub warmth, its deep-throated roar to the light lapping of the shore, from ankle deep to unplumbed depths.”

“Larger than the lands, more unknown and mysterious than any other earthly presence, it is deeper than mountains are high.  Yet its immensity is moved by the touch of moonlight, it rises and falls and sways to the caress of the wind. Teeming with life, much of it is still invisible and undiscovered.  “

“But it is in its kaleidoscope of color that I experience its greatest expression and the most mysterious magic.  How is it possible at one moment for it to be transparent and next, the yellow or pink, orange, reddish purple, blue, gray, mauve, green, turquoise, cerulean, cobalt, ultramarine deep, almost black, then the color of a passing cloud or the reflected sky?”

“A handful of sea water is colorless and yet the immense ocean is full of color.  And all of this has been going on every moment of every day for eons.”