I think I'm prepared: floater jacket, boots, pager, GPS locator, flashlight. It's just before 5 a.m., still pitch black as I clomp down the steps. At the bottom, I stop. Overhead, the sky is clear, with millions of stars in a dome coming right down to the far horizons. I realize I've never before experienced this 360-degree panorama of the night sky. Then I look straight up and see the four beams of light slowly rotating from the top of the Race Rocks lighthouse 30 metres above me.