Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida
It is something familiar to all boaters. Sunlight streams in via a port window, or a hatch, or the companionway. The bright spot in the picture above is from the companionway. Then, the light spot pans left and right as the boat swings at anchor.
Sometimes it is entertaining. For example, when it hits the glass globe on our oil lamps, the refracted ray's form cool patterns and the patterns move all over.
Sometimes it is very annoying. The light shines in your eyes and it blinds you. In that case you move. The same thing happens in fixed structures too. The difference in a boat is that moving only spares your eyes for 10 seconds or less. Then you are forced to move again, and again, and again. Then you are motivated to use a shade in the offending port. But soon the boat swings enough that another port becomes the problem. Eventually, you wind up with almost all sources of light blocked.
The other day I took and afternoon nap and I woke up with a sunburn on the small of my back. As I slept, the boat swung to just the right angle to illuminate that spot.
The point is that we become so accustomed to this behavior that we forget about it. Boats swing, so what? I wouldn't mention it at all except that yesterday we did a video call with a friend. Almost immediately, the caller surprised me with the question, "is your boat swinging at anchor?" He noticed the moving bright spots in the background instantly.
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The opposite is reading while at the marina and looking outside and seeing the piling dancing up and down and side to side. Thought I was still and those concrete pilings going up eight feet in the air are going crazy.
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