11 - 12 September - A meteor festival

In French, meteor is used in a generic sense to refer to any phenomenon occurring "up there" (en-haut), not just the trail of shooting stars.

Double rainbow over Den Helder

This rainbow over the pass out of Den Helder tells you the kind of weather we experienced on this day. Interestingly on the left, there is a second rainbow. Note that the order of colours are always inverted in the second rainbow!

Furthermore, note that the sky within the primary bow is brighter than the sky outside! The darker band of sky around the primary bow is called the "Alexander band". See wikipedia for all explanations!

A rainbow and a buoy

Amazing colours of a rising sun

The picture below is taken from the boat, just after the rising of the moon on  Belisama. The French called the moon the "ash moon" when one can see the part of the moon not lit by the sun. The faint light on the part of the moon in the shadow is due too the reflection of the sunlight on the surface of earth. It is associated with bad weather coming in as the reflection of the sunlight on earth is proportional to the cloud cover on the part of the world generating the reflection.

Towards last crescent of the "ashed" moon, and venus

This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as the new moon carrying the old moon in her arms. This has been a sign interpreted negatively by sailors in the past.

"I saw the new moon late yesterday

With the old moon in her arms

And if we go to see Master

I fear we will come to harm!"

The light under the moon is Venus, showing as well a crescent almost visible to the naked eye. See this link for fantastic pictures of the moon and Venus taken this night.