Sea Lights

Here's a post from my notebook that's just now getting into the blog:

Something I read about in Kon Tiki but didn't really expect to see so much of is the phosphorescence in the water. It was in the boat's wake all through the trip--we had stars above us and little twinkling lights below us. The boat churns up the water, leaving a trail of blue-

green underwater fireflies behind. Even more interesting are the large patches of phosphorescence that bloom and fade all around the boat now that we've started turning on the white strobe light on the masthead during the night. It looks like the phosphorescent things in the water, whatever they are, respond to the light as well as being tumbled about. Anyway, all the glowing activity makes sailing at night a lot more interesting than I expected, especially on these moonless nights.