Dolphins Made of Light

After a very calm sleep, I found my self standing upright on a flat deck.  The squalls seemed to be behind us, finally we had entered the waters which were predicted!  The sea was completely calm, most likely because we had rounded Madura and entered a protected bay.  The sky was lit shortly after 5, and we had consistent wind, steady and favorable to drive our sails.  The days seem to last forever when you begin them at 4 Am, and as this one dragged on, it became calmer and calmer, hotter and HOTTER.  The sea was completely flat, the air stagnant and humid.  We were barely moving forward, at the steady pace of just over 2 knots.  We stopped for a much needed swim.  The ocean was clear and full of fleets of purple jellyfish, but we were all so hot that we were jumping off the bow carefree.  The water was cool and extremely refreshing!  It was a much needed break from our arduous bobbing under the baking sun.

During both my morning and evening shift, I saw several dolphins.  They only stayed around for several breaches, but we think they were small spinners; they were tiny, I thought maybe babies, but they could have been a particularly small breed.  The evening was calm, but we entered a downpour!  The rain was thick, producing a slight mist above the sea and deck and forming an impenetrable curtain around the entire ship.  Visibility instantly dropped to 10 feet onboard, and when you shined a light off the side, you could only see 5 feet away from the hull.  It was very treacherous sailing because you couldn’t see anything other than the helm, and the compass, it felt like sitting on a movie set waiting for them to say action and turn on the lights.  During a deck check, I noticed the sea was glowing from time to time.  Fluorescent plankton were illuminating where ever there was a disturbance in the water.  The waves created by the bow of the ship and the white caps in the sea were turned into glowing clouds beneath us full of individual specks of light, and the rain drops striking the water lit up upon impact.  It was an amazing sight to see a living light show created by the interaction of animals and nature.  The reefing team was called upon again…I am proud to say that we are now very efficient and methodical, ready at an instants notice.

Back in my bunk, again everyone was ready to sleep, we heard Satyavan running around on deck clapping and making a strange noise.  We knew it had to be dolphins!  4 dolphins were surfing on the bow of the ship and we could see them jumping under the light of a flashlight.  When the light went out, we sat in amazement and watched the sea light up.  The sky and the sea were pitch black, but illuminations in the shape of dolphins were clearly visible under the water.  We sat in awe as 3 dimensional glowing dolphins cut through the water, jumping back and forth from port to starboard, swimming in streamline unison and making loops off of the bow.  Their paths continued to glow, showing their playful patterns in the sea.  For 20 minutes we watched a spectacular show, applauding and whistling; it was unreal seeing dolphins encased by light playing with each other in the surf and interacting with us as we were hanging over the side of Mir!