Bioluminescence | Danielle Verwers

Bioluminescence

Danielle Verwers

I wait for night to fall again and the sea to flash neon blue, red tide algae bloom. Laser light shows offer tickets, paid admission. Though nature is generous she offers no refunds, no money back guarantees. She prays on my hope for phytoplankton to arrive before I fly east and is paid in small gasps of wonder. One bloom won’t be enough to illuminate the waves. It takes a fortune, more than a million. It’s not cheap for the glow to form then unravel into white foam on the sand. And if Mother Nature is too tired tonight for another encore, perhaps it is for the best. Her display could be toxic and after I lick salt spray from my lips, the temptation to plunge my body into liquid sapphire light may be too strong to resist.