The winter solstice approaches on the blue planet

The winter days are short but yesterday was sunny and bright. I drove along River Road enroute to Vancouver to enjoy a Christmas lunch with colleagues.
Photo: pelicans at Nuevo Vallarta

The Fraser River was brilliantly blue and smooth as glass. It looked like a lake. This impression was strengthened by the presence of a huge flock of gulls swimming on the far side. The brilliant midday sun picked out their whiteness against the red of a string of barges, with their white lettering, "Seaspan."

This view reminded me of another lot of birds on another dock. The birds were pelicans, not gulls and the boats were fishing and pleasure boats, not barges. In Puerto Vallarta the length of the day does not vary much by season.

When it rains or is overcast, the ocean is grey, as it is here. But on this midwinter day in the temperate region of the blue planet, the colour of the water was much the same as it was that day in Mexico.