Eyewitness story- Lexi Tzortzis (Calvert
Schooling) Oct 22, 2015
Dear Reader,
I have so
much to say but so little time. It all started with a simple conversation.
“What are they?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” Mom replied.
Some things
in this world, you just can’t explain. But, I’ll try.
It was
another fantastic day in Mexico as we had just sailed around the islands of
Espirito Santu, a natural wildlife park, off the coast of La Paz. We swam with
the sea lions for an hour or so, and came back into a small cove, big enough only
for our 47 ft. catamaran, named Family
Circus.
My parents, sister, brother, and I, sat and
watched the sun set over the sea, while my two little sisters played inside. The
muddy, red cliffs that bordered three sides of the cove got darker and darker,
until the only light was coming out of our boat.
You could
smell the delicious cooking coming from our tiny kitchen, or galley, as its
called on a boat, and I knew dinner was ready. Dad called us to the table for
dinner, and we ate. After dinner, we cleared the plates and started to sit down
to play cards, when my mom, who was looking at the stars, glanced at the water,
and audibly gasped.
“Tristan, Lexi, Kaela, Chris. Come
look at this!”
As I leaned
over the side of the boat I realized the lifeline netting and night was cold but
the heat from my family crowding around me was keeping me warm. Staring Into
the glassy water it seemed like it was reflecting the stars. Thousands of
surreal shimmering lights in bright neon greens and blues are dancing everywhere
in the water.
“What are they?” I ask.
“I don’t know.” Mom answers.
We learned later
that the little lights were actually microscopic creatures that produce bioluminescence.
The tiny bright organisms seemed like they popped straight out of a movie, one
like Avatar where everything is glowing. Bioluminescence is the production of
light given off by a living creature. While not technically correct, we started
to call them “ocean phosphorescence”, or simply “phosphorescence”.
Watching the
sparkles in the water made me feel special and excited to be able to see
something that I hadn’t seen before, or wouldn’t have been able to see anywhere
else. We watched in fascination for hours, or so it seemed. When I finally got
too tired to keep my eyes open, or watch the little blinking creatures, I went
to bed. I thought that they would be there tomorrow night. Had I known they
would run away, I would have watched them longer. Had I known they would leave,
I wouldn’t have gone away.
I dreamt all
night of the little glowing creatures, except not in the water. In my dream, it
was pitch black all around me, except for little flashing lights everywhere in
bright greens and blues.
In the
morning when I woke up I felt like I saw the world differently. I tried to walk
around and spend more time outdoors. You can hear about something, or see a
picture, but to see it for yourself first hand is definitely way better than
hearing it from someone else second hand. If you get the chance to, I hope you
learned from this experience as I did, and let nature surprise you.
All My Love,
Lexi
No comments:
Post a Comment