Moonrise over Pawley's Island {includes video}
UPDATED: 2/4/2023
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Almost every trip has its own unique happy surprise. During our Christmas getaway to Pawley’s Island, we rented a home right on the beach with the dining room on the back of the house facing the watery vista. During our first night, we were surprised to see a gigantic super moon rising right outside.
What makes moons ‘super moons’ is that they are closer to Earth and so appear larger and brighter. The view of this moon rising over the ocean, where its light danced across the crashing waves, was a beautiful sight. We snapped a few photos the night of the full moon but missed the opportunity to record a video. The next night, we were prepared!
We started recording the video just before the moonrise (learn more about the camera equipment we use here) so that we could see the first hints of light peaking above the horizon followed by the initial glimpses of the moon itself and the first taps of its light on the occasional wave to create that beautiful shimmer on the water.
What is so worthwhile about taking the time to watch the moonrise is that we were paying close attention to what it actually looked like: after the initial small amounts of reddish light on the water, it faded into orange, yellow, and finally nearly white. Just as the color changed, the reflection of the moon shifted from minimal light on the waves to more and more shimmering off of the water until it was finally nearly a white path along the ocean’s surface when the moon arced higher into the sky. Check out the video below to see this progression yourself!
Our only regret was missing the full moon the night before. While you wouldn’t think one night would make a huge difference, it really did! Obviously the moon is not completely circular the night after the full moon but additionally the intensity of the moonlight was vastly different than the previous night. It was still bright but there was a much larger difference in brightness than either of us would have expected. And because watching a video of a moon rising needs appropriate music, turn your sound up for - what else? - Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven.
Watch the moon rise over the Atlantic Ocean while listening to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. I love how the reflection slowly appears on the water, first as a deep red but slowly fading through orange, yellow and finally to white.
Supermoon on the rise over the Atlantic Ocean.
I love how the moon (and reflection) appears to change color as it peaks higher above the horizon.
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