Blue Star Satellite

In the early 1990s, I learned to scuba dive as I needed something to add a little excitement to my life. This it certainly did, and for much of the 1990s, I was scuba diving the cold north Pacific Waters of British Columbia, known for its incredible sea life. From diving with giant six-gill sharks, large colonies of sea lions or giant octopus and wolfeel, Of course there was the joy of diving walls covered in unimaginable lush profusions of invertebrates and fish, or entering an old shipwreck. It was and is, a totally different environment on this planet and it is so unfortunate that so many never feel the joy of an accidental encounter with a dolphin, or a sea turtle, or a shark.

One this one particular trip, we were traveling north of Port Hardy towards Browning Passage that is located in the northeast end of Queen Charlotte Strait. A number of us were on a dive charter and many of us were having some beer and drinks on the back deck. We were talking, joking and probably singing a little. The sky was clear. When I am outside at night, I life to pay attention to all the natural phenomena around: the stars, the winds, the currents, the sounds of animals, birds and insects.

I looked up to notice the bright white light of a satellite that was bearing north across the sky. I cried “look” and many of the people looked up. One cried out “Wow” and immediately looked back down. As I watched the light, a second later when it was directly above us in the middle of the sky, it burst briefly into the most intense cobalt blue light. The cobalt light starburst faded back to a regular while light and then faded away while continuing its same bearing.

As this was happening, I remember thinking “Take me with you! and getting the feeling of a reply “Not now. We’ll be back later”.