When I dipped my hand in the water the bioluminescence made a wide sparkling trail, nearly illuminating the lagoon.  I was in Puerto Rico, in 2005, on the Bioluminescence tour.

I almost gave up on it when the bus broke down 2 blocks from the hotel at sunset.  But what was I going to do then?  Go back to my room and do Sudoku puzzles until I fell asleep from boredom?  No way.

So we waited.  Other women from the conference were on the bus, too.  We joked loudly as the bus jostled along the dark roads en route to the parking area where we’d put in the kayaks.  Oh, there was a ghastly part because the restroom there was filthy and so many of us had to go.  But having gotten past that, we put on our life vests and clambered into the kayaks, two people per kayak, and followed our guide out through the black water, maneuvering around the giant mangrove trees, with their long twisted roots stretching down to the water, swamp creatures frozen in time.

One of the women was frightened and her husband who was with her kept teasing her, meanly.  I wondered if he knew that the rest of us were coming from a big conference and training program dealing with the issues of domestic violence?  His humor did not go over well.  She was terrified of falling into the water and he kept laughing at her, in a high pitched giggle, which was very annoying.

But the dark canals were beautiful.  We paddled through and around the mangroves until suddenly we were out on the salt lagoon.  Stars splashed overhead, and a distant lighthouse swept its light over us every minute or so as we paddled out into the deeper water of the large lagoon.  The water glowed with each dip of the paddles, and eventually several of us jumped in and swam.

Unexpected.  Delightful.  Mysterious.   We glowed with bioluminescence and joy.