L.A.B. Unleashed

The first topic I MUST write about is our night time tour of the Bio-luminescent Bay.  Bio Bay on Vieques has the highest concentration of glowing plankton in the world, and this was apparent as soon as our kayaks entered the water.  As the paddles touched the water everything just lit up, and you could see the kayaks gliding through the water leaving a glowing path behind them.  There were three two person kayaks, so each couple had their own.   Our tour guide was Abe Jr., or Abbie as some people called him.  Cool guy … very chill … imagine a smaller, scrawnier, version of Bob Marley with a giant dread-locked pony tail on top of his head.  The group of us paddled out to the middle of the bay and swam around a bit, which was very cool.  It was kind of like swimming in a pool at night with the underwater light turned on.  The water was really warm … maybe 85 degrees … like bath water!  When you held your arm out of the water, it looked like glitter rolling down your arms …. trippy!!!  After the brief swim, we all hopped back into the kayaks and Abbie said we’d paddle out a little further, to where you can see schools of fish darting under the water … like little comets or ghosts.  Sounded cool, so we followed along.  Sure enough, after a few minutes you could see little ghosts darting under the boats, this way and that … their glittery paths crossing each other and then disappearing into the water.  The stars were so bright in the sky … one of the prettiest sky’s I’ve ever witnessed.  We were all stopped at this point enjoying the water comets and stars, when all the sudden Kevin and I see a long slender glow coming directly toward our kayak at an increasing speed.  It was as if jaws was coming at our boat and all you could see was the fin poking out of the water, except in this case, all you could see was a sparkly glow quickly approaching growing larger the closer it got.  At a high speed it darted right to the front of our kayak, where I was sitting, and we thought it had just gone under the boat.  It was thrilling …. UNTIL …. I felt something slimy slopping around in the front of the boat.  I FREAKED OUT!!!  Remember it is dark, so I couldn’t see how large or what shape this fish was.  I exclaimed

Oh my God, it’s in the boat

and everyone started laughing.  They didn’t believe me.  The stupid thing was splashing around underneath me … so I screamed

Seriously, it’s in the F**K-ING boat!!!!

This violent shriek that cut through the peaceful night got every one’s attention.  Abe Jr. slowly paddled over all chill-like, but I manged to fling the bio-fish out of from underneath me before he got there.  Thanks for nothing, Abbie!!  At this point, I’ve had enough.  I start to frantically paddle back to shore and I’m convinced all the little ghost fish darting under me are now going to jump right into my boat again … a panic attack ensued.  Half way back to shore, we’ve left everyone else in the dust, but I hear them say … "look, there’s a nurse shark!!!"  I think  … "cool, maybe the nurse shark would like to jump in for a little ride as well!"  I’ve completely checked out!!

Later that evening, Ryan asks,

Leah, have you spent any time in prison?

because the words that came out of my mouth so violently cut through the tranquility of the night.  Andy said he’d never forget his star gazing, when the deadly shrieks ended his peaceful night.  I am not proud of my reaction, but it was definitely all instinct at that point.  It doesn’t get anymore unleashed than that. I’m not a big fan of fish, or snorkeling, or swimming in water at night, so this Bio-Bay experience only added to these fears!  Good times!