Liquid Pixie Dust

The entire trip has been fantastic but the past couple days were particularly interesting to me so I'm giving Monique a break from the log so I can write a few lines. Before I get rolling I need to say that although we've only been on the boat for 11 days it feels like we never left. The biggest difference is the kid's independence and significant participation. Back in 2000 they were passengers along for the ride, this time they are partners in the adventure and it makes a big difference in our day to day life. There are so many things that I could tell you about how they've impacted this trip but I think I will save that for another time. Let's just say that the family really clicks when we are all together on a boat and there has been a lot of laughter and camaraderie over the past two weeks.

The past couple days could be scenes right out of a movie. Last night we swam under a moonless sky in a cove so thick with bioluminescence that Tinker Bell would be jealous (see details below) and today we splashed around in a natural hot tub formed in the rocks and then we hiked a trail on a tiny island that lead to a secluded little cove with bright white sandy beach and coral blue water that had crashing waves just begging you to jump in and start body surfing. Okay, so we skipped the body surfing part but I was thinking about it when we were standing on the beach and I bet you can picture the kind of spot I'm talking about...right?

So, what the heck was that reference to Tinker Bell all about? To be honest it is kind of hard to explain. It's one of those "you had to be there" kind of things but I will do my best because it was a once in a lifetime experience. Cole even tried to bottle some of the water to show his friends back home (much to his dismay it didn't work). It started off with a short paragraph I read in one of our cruising books. The author briefly mentioned a little cove on the South side of a relatively unknown Island near Puerto Rico named Vieques. This particular cove, Puerto Mosquito, caught my attention because the author mentioned the extraordinary bioluminescence that occurred on moonless nights. Just so happens we are in the phase of the moon that fit that description so we charted a course for Vieques from St. Croix. The cove is so small it was barely recognizable on the chart and we couldn't even see the entrance until we were 100 yards away. The channel was about 50 yards wide and only 5 feet deep but it was very protected and we slowly slipped our way down the small channel and into a wide open mangrove lined cove about half the size of Newport Harbor. Not surprisingly, less a couple local fishing boats, we were the only boat in the entire cove. We anchored in about 9 feet of water and waited for the sun to go down. At about 9pm I jumped off the back of the boat and the water exploded with tiny glowing liquid pixy dust. Now I'm not talking about the little glowing trails you see sometimes at night in Narragansett Bay, I'm talking about a complete illumination all around me as I swam. It was so unreal Cammi spontaneously jumped in after me. She never swims at night and now she was splashing around and laughing uncontrollably. Cole pulled out a couple of his huge water guns and started shooting glowing water spouts off the back of the boat. We were laughing like idiots and splashing around like lunatics for about an hour. This was one of those experiences we will all remember for the rest of our lives.

-Tom