I just had the most amazing half an hour!  The picture doesn’t match the story, but sadly, I couldn’t get pictures.

Kristin and Tim where coming in from deck (at about 1 am), and they said "Have you seen the bioluminescent algae?".  Of course, I hadn’t.  So Tim took me out to the bow of the ship without benefit of a flashlight.  I held on to his elbow and he led, because his eyes were adjusted.  I can honestly say I don’t think I have ever been in such total darkness.  Maybe in a cavern with the lights out, but other than than – nope!  It was kind of scary, but Tim was great about telling me where obstacles were and we made our way to the front of the ship. 

Once we got there I stood up on a thingy (that’s my technical term – I have no idea what it was) so I could see over the side.  Looking down into the wake generated by the ship, there were tons of bioluminescent algae just twinkling and sparkling.  They looked like Christmas lights blinking under the water.  Tim said they’re churned up by the motion of the ship, and that we will often see them in cooler waters (we are headed farther away from the equator).   I stood out there and watched for a long time, and when I looked up, the clouds had cleared and the sky was full of stars.  Stars above, stars below.  It was an amazing sight.

Of course, I had to share this so I ran inside and got anyone who wasn’t too busy and took them out to see the algae.  Every time I think I’ve seen "the coolest thing!" on this journey, something else comes along!