Roatan String of Pearls

Today I have a story to tell you, but first check out these shots 🙂

We came across this plaque today whilst visiting the Jumbilima Park in Roatan (After ziplining through the trees)! How cool is that…. Someone actually spent 24 years looking for butterflys!!

How do you like this one that looks like a dalmation? You saw it here first 🙂

If any of the ladies like Victoria’s Secret Perfume – This is the flower from which it is made:

The Macaws were beautiful – this guy came and sat on my shoulder and decided to lick the sweat of my face 😉

We also went on a night dive last night which was simply awesome. It was a first time for Mrs Scot and I… There were lots of hermit crabs and lobster out playing!

I am actually quite proud of the above photo – it took a lot of skill to juggle flashlights and a camera to get the lighting level right for this one!

Roatan – String of Pearls

Towards the end of the night dive, we swam to a sandy area at about 6m (20 ft). The group all switched off their lights and waited to see if we could experience what the locals call the ‘string of pearls’. We were told that the conditions have to be perfect – no moonlight, no wind and as black as the darkest night. We switched off all our torches and were engulfed in total darkness. I had to remind myself that I was underwater, for it was easy to forget. The reef was still and the only reason I knew the group were still there was because of the soft sound of bubbles. I clasped Mrs Scot’s hand tight to let her know I was still beside her… and we waited. And waited.

And then it begun. Sparks flew from my fingertips as the micro-organisms burst into life. Think ET’s fingertip – Mother nature came alive! It was as if we were radioactive….. everytime we moved we were shooting glowing sand! The bioluminescence twinkled all around around us like stars in the night sky. I had to pinch myself to ensure I wasn’t dreaming.

The whole experience just got more and more surreal. As if the first bioluminescence cried out to the rest that it was safe to come out and play – the strings started. Like fairy lights in a vertical string, sequentially lighting up and then going out again – a crazy light show was underway. For a moment I could imagine I was in space – shooting lasers to protect the galaxy; or in a scene from the Matrix, bending time and floating!

I have never taken acid, but this is exactly what I would imagine an acid trip being like. It was one of the best moments of my life. We knelt there mesmerised, spellbound and in disbelief.

In what seemed like only a minute, my watch was beeping, calling the end of the dive. The group surfaced with a look of total satisfaction; nobody needed to say anything. No words can quite describe what we had just seen. Even as I write this, and delete parts, and then write again; I too can still not explain what happened.