Good Descriptions

I don't know what it is about this section from "The Count of Monte Cristo" that has stuck to my mind.

"At seven o'clock the next evening all was ready, at ten minutes past seven they rounded the lighthouse just as the beacon was kindled. The sea was calm with a fresh wind blowing from the south east; they sailed under a sky of azure where God was also lighting up his lanterns, each one of which is a world.
"The vessel skimmed merrily over the water under full sail; there was not a rag of cloth that was not bellied in the wind.
"The Isle of Monte Cristo loomed large on the horizon.
"Towards five o'clock they saw a complete view of the island. They could see the smallest objects, thanks to the clearness of atmosphere peculiar to the light that is shed by the rays of the sun at sunset. Edmond gazed and gazed on this mass of rocks, which was tinged with all the colours of twilight, from bright pink to deep blue; at times his face would become a deep red, and a blue mist passed before his eyes. Never did gamester, whose whole fortune was staked on one throw of the dice, experience the anguish that Dantes felt."

-from "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas.