The sun is setting. Its final spray of colors are fading from the sky. I slip into my kayak, grab my paddle, and row out into the dark waters of Salt River Bay in the US Virgin Islands. We endure wave after wave in the same bay Christopher Columbus landed in 1493. His sense of adventure works its way through my body. Without a square inch of dry skin, we paddle on. My group and I are on a mission to find an extraordinary place.
Half way into the bay I glance back at what looks like a painting. Ocean waves reflect a pale moonlight sky, sleeping sailboats, and beyond them rolling hills strung with lights. A warm breeze fills the air, and I catch a hint of live fish. I turn back towards my objective. Mangrove trees welcome us to the other side of the bay, their intricate roots crafting the shoreline. A band of herons watch us from the trees. “Look!” our guide calls. I follow his finger and find a soft blue orb of light, about the size of a small marble, floating in the water. “A glowworm!” How incredible.
We finally come to a calm, circular alcove, gently rowing in as if tiptoeing through a quiet forest. Slowing to a halt, I gaze down into the dark mirror. The silence turns to anticipation. My searching eyes start to lose hope, but I won’t give up so easily. Gaining some courage, I skim my hand through the lukewarm void below. A tiny flick of light catches my eye and vanishes. “Finally.” We have found the secret garden.
As the night darkens, more flickers of light reveal themselves. Peering over the side of the kayak, I sink my whole hand underwater, and it becomes a blue sparkler. These are the dinoflagellates we came here for, a plankton that emits a bioluminescent glow when physically disrupted. I take my oar and plunge it into the darkness and I enter a fairy tale. On contact my oar becomes a brush, painting clouds of light on a watery canvas. No matter where we touch, we are floating on light itself; our wakes streaming like comets. My paddle sweeps something that explodes like a flash grenade and snatches my attention. “Guys, check this out! It’s a jellyfish!” In his hand, our guide is holding a radiant creature. “They won’t sting you.”
The challenge is on! I swirl my implement through the thousands of flicks, watching for the big one. Boom! I lock onto the position of the flash, judge the water’s direction, and warily wave my hand among the tiny stars… Boom!! My finger bumps a squishy surface that ignites. Fear pulls my arm back and I know I’ve just missed it. This time I won’t retreat. I try again and again. Miss after miss, I realize the first time was just beginner’s luck, until at long last I feel the soft and delicate creature float into my palm. It awakens, melting all darkness around us. I pull it up to my spellbound eyes; hypnotized by what is in my hand. Like a thunderstorm trapped inside a living bottle. Exquisite. Awe stricken, I know I must return it to its world. I release the wonder back into the nebula below and look around, losing track of my breath, hanging in time…
Marcus Clark 