Night Kayaking!

So first off there are no pictures - it was night time! It was soooo dark!

We got into a kayak with a glow sticks on either end and a group of strangers in similar situations. We formed a long line with direction to pass any instructions back down the line and with that we set off into the darkness across the inlet. We made our way through a long channel of mangroves in pitch black darkness, the only way I even knew the mangroves were there was when I looked up I could get glimpses of stars between the branches. It was wild and fun. And then the sky opened up and it poured. There was really nothing to do but keep going. It did let up after about 10 minutes, but not before every inch of me was soaked.

The long follow the leader line was efficient but it did mean that we were at the mercy of those in front of us, when some of them went of course we all sort of followed....

After a few branches in the face and some interesting communication challenges the rain stopped and we emerged onto a big open lagoon. The bioluminescence comes from a micro organism in the water that emits a soft light when it sense a threat, like movement. So as we paddled through the lagoon, each time we slipped our paddles into the water it emitted a soft glow, it was really cool. We tried to take photos but it wasn't bright enough. All we had to do was put our hands in the water and they water glowed all around our fingers.

The coolest part was that the organisms react to any movement, including fish. So as larger fish chased smaller fish looking for a meal we got to watch as glowing orbs of light darted around beneath the kayak. It was almost like being in a scene from Avatar. :)

The trip back wasn't nearly as eventful. Since we were soaking wet we made a bee line for the hostel to get cleaned up and rest up.