When You See the Southern Cross for the First Time…

When You See the Southern Cross for the First Time…

We spent days crossing the southern ocean, crossed the equator and made our first African landfall. All that time and all those miles with mostly cloudy skies almost every night! We were on the lookout for stars, especially the Southern Cross. And I cannot help but hear the song by Crosby, Stills & Nash in my head every single time I think of the constellation.

Finally a clear night between Walvis Bay and Capetown, South Africa. After dinner one night we made a trek to the bow of the ship and its observation deck. We had the place to ourselves (it was cold!) and began our search of the galaxy for any recognizable constellation. Several lectures in the ship’s planetarium had taught us where we might find the the Southern Cross but it might not be too distinct for the time of year. But finally there it was…and the song ran through my head!

Note: the one constellation we could consistently see was Orion, although he was upside down during our entire stay in the Southern Hemisphere. Most of you probably know that but I freely admit my lack of knowledge regarding astronomy is limited to the basics, lol. I am resolved to get better about that.