Carolyn experiences biolumiesnce on Sandy Point Beach

Carolyn Halliday
Subject: biolumiesnce
I’m sending you what I wrote in my journal.  Not sure what you want to post but here’s a possible excerpt:

Need more evidence of the magic of Chateau Mer—-I had this experience this week as I took a night swim. At about the height of my thighs I realize that the sparkles in the water are perhaps not reflections bouncing from the dim flash light, as I had thought.  I stir my hands across the water’s surface and tiny lights follow in the ripples.  Phosphorescence!  Bioluminescence.  Thousands of microscopic dinoflagellate phytoplankton  transfer the fog’s hidden constellations into a liquid night sky.  Bright lights sparkle with every movement I make, and I can almost capture a handful of stars.  At the surface my hands radiate with luminescence.  This magic light pulls me into the deep, leading my breastwork with v-shaped waves of magic.  The stars of the sea dance everywhere around me and multiply with the slightest move.

From her journal: From the experience of Monday September 19 2016  Chateau Mer

A little too warm, a little too awake, I want to take a skinny dip.  I look for camaraderie  from Sandy or Kim but they are cozied up for bed.  CR agrees to keep me safe on the beach so I strip and carefully descend the long steps under the light of my iPhone.  CR is cheery and agreeable, happy too, to be on the beach.  He shines a light on my white skin and the water as I tip toe in.  Cold, but warmer than the other night. Clouds mask the still plump moon leaving the water a mysterious black. At about the height of my thighs I realize that the sparkles in the water are perhaps not reflections bouncing from the dim flash light, as I had thought.  I stir my hands across the water’s surface and tiny lights follow in the ripples.  Phosphorescence!  Bioluminescence.  Thousands of microscopic dinoflagellate phytoplankton  transfer the fog’s hidden constellations into a liquid night sky.  Bright lights sparkle with every movement I make, and I can almost capture a handful of stars.  At the surface my hands radiate with luminescence.  This magic light pulls me into the deep, leading my breastwork with v-shaped waves of magic.  The stars of the sea dance everywhere around me and multiply with the slightest move.  I am in a Disney movie, I am in Narnia, I am under the spell of Harry Potter’s wand, I am being baptized by the sacred hand of Nature.  It is me, the cool of the water, the dark surrounding everything, and these magical sparks swirling through the water.  CR remains at the non swimmers edge of the ocean, but is connected with me in the mystical moment, equally entranced with the rare rare occurance.  It reminds me of the most spectacular Northern Lights that I have every seen, when the sky was alive with multicolored fireworks, but then I was alone and lonely, and today I am grateful to be with my loving witness.

Barbara tells us the next day that in her 37 years in beautiful Sandy Point, she has never seen or heard of others seeing the bioluminescence wonder.  When I googled information on it, I discover kayaking trips in September, at Castine, that sell the promise of witnessing it.  But still I believe that sea has revealed to me a sacred blessing, the whispering of a secret  covenant of unknown endless splendor that awaits my trust in life.

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From: eckertk@bell.net [mailto:eckertk@bell.net]
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2016 1:20 PM

When you spend a week with Barbara Bridges at her sprawling cottage at Sandy Point, Maine, be prepared to have your horizons opened.  There’s a sense of fun and freedom that hits you the moment you arrive.  From the dark green-tiled “grotto” of a bathroom to the weird sea-horse statue which will, when a tossed-in snail travels through its tubes and tunnels, ostensibly predict the weather, “Chateau Mer” exudes a veritable joie de vivre!

Chateau Mer is perched high above Penobscot Bay and the first thing you’ll want to do is to take a swim and go for an exploratory walk.  After that, the place exerts its own rhythm and there seem to be only two house rules:  don’t take the last squirt of half and half in your coffee and pitch in with the dishes.  So……….feeling creative?  Tinker to your heart’s content in a garage/studio filled with tools, beads, sea treasures and sundry collected oddities.  Feel like playing tourist?  There’s a wonderful Marine Museum and Acadia National Park close by.  Love to shop? Antique flea markets line the roads.  Want to just rest?  Nobody will say boo if you retire to your room for a couple of hours.

At night, there’s conversation around a fire, luxuriating in an outdoor hot-tub (what a view!)  or, if you’re the hardy sort – a midnight swim.

The highlight of the week is a lobster feast followed by a “no pressure” art sharing afternoon.

If you love to create art, but you don’t always know what you need, this is the place to go!