Tuesday, July 25^th

Everyone got up at 7:30 this morning and we’d finished breakfast by 9:20.  After a quick stop by a marina store to get ice, we were on our way back toward Islamorada.  Everyone is tired and several of the Scouts sleep on deck.  No one is much motivated to sail the boat and getting Scouts to take the watch is difficult.  Our first snorkel site was at Middle Sambo.  After the dive, we ate lunch before motoring on again, with everyone except David, BA and Mr. Luff sound asleep on deck.  We reached our second snorkel site at Looe Key, but at a different portion of the reef than we’d been in before on our trip down.  We anchor to a mooring buoy close to the reef, with the wind wanting to back the boat into it, but one of the Scouts misses getting the line on the boat’s cleat and we start to back onto the reef, with the Capt. about to have kittens in the cockpit.  We have to go around and come back to the buoy and this time Capt. Harman takes care of the mooring duty himself.  In all fairness, the swell was bigger than normal and was causing the boat to bounce around a bunch, making it hard to set the line in the cleat.

After our dive, we head back north and pulled into Bahia Honda State Park in mid-afternoon and anchored the boat in the sand just outside the swimming area.  Everyone swims into shore to go to the store (except the Capt. and Mr. Luff … Capt. Harman swam over to the Rosa Del Mar for a visit and Mr. Luff floated around the boat soaking his huge stumped big toe).  We stayed anchored here and goofing off until 6:30, when Capt. Harman decided to move out of the natural harbor and anchor a mile north where the mosquitoes wouldn’t bother us.

While we moved north, the crew started dinner: steak with all the trimmings.  After dinner and KP, right at 8:30 pm, an amazing thing begins to happen.  Most of the crew is on deck enjoying a beautiful night sky and trying to spot constellations, when Mr. Grimes calls our attention back to the water.  Approaching the boat, the surrounding and extending beyond the boat in all directions, are what appear to be phosphorescent blooms of light.  As one Scout said, “It’s like fireflies in the sea that explode.”  This is phenomenon the captain hasn’t seen in his 20 years on the ocean.  Being curious Scouts, Mark, BA, Chris  and Blake grab a bucket and climb down onto the swim platform to try and catch whatever it is in the water.  When the bucket is back on deck and we shine a flashlight in it, it appears empty at first until a small critter is fished out; it looks like a cream-colored, multi-legged flat worm.  In the water, one brightly lit spot squiggles around until another, much less bright light, swims up to the brighter one.  Once they touch, it is as though they both explode into a spherical mass of very dim phosphorescent ‘children’ that then fade away.  This is going on as far as we can see in all directions, but stops after only about 45 minutes.  Everyone is stumped.

When everyone is getting ready for bed at 9:30, Capt. Harman calls everyone on deck and announces that we have to stand anchor watch tonight.  We’re anchored in shallow water and the anchor doesn’t have a good bite in sand or rock.  With the wind picking up, the Capt. is concerned the anchor will break free and the Dutch Love will end up on the reef.

NEXT: Day 9