You see, after a busy day of swimming and snorkeling, we were exhausted! It was our last day of vacation, and I really wanted to rest. When Pinky asked me if I might want to rent a kayak and go out onto the ocean again, I really didn't feel like it. However, I could tell that my beautiful fiancee wanted to do so, so I agreed.
We paid 300 baht to borrow a kayak for a few hours, and paddled back out to the area we had explored the other day. This time, however, the sun was beginning to set, and as we floated out in the bay, the sky began lighting up in the fiery gold of sunset.
We were the only ones kayaking, and except for a sailing yacht very far off in the distance, were the only people out on the water. This was the best view that anyone could ever dream of.
As the colors of the sunset grew richer and more vibrant, my exhaustion melted away. We paddled away from the limestone karsts to an open area where we could watch the sun sink below the horizon in all of its richly colored glory.
And glorious it was! I usually touch up my photos before posting them on the blog, but this time there was no need. No filter or editing that I could do in a digital darkroom could even come close to matching the beauty of the sunset in real life!
We were the only ones kayaking, and except for a sailing yacht very far off in the distance, were the only people out on the water. This was the best view that anyone could ever dream of.
I guess I had learned a valuable lesson! Sometimes, even if you feel tired, you should say "yes" to a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You just never know what you might miss out on if you don't.
When the sun had gone down, we paddled back to shore in the dark. As we approached the beach, the guy who had rented us our kayaks was just paddling out with two other couples on kayaks. He shouted across the water at us, and Pinky turned to me to translate his words into English.
"He asked us if we would like to go out with them to see the bio-luminescent plankton".
My arms were so sore and tired, but I agreed. I had just witnessed the most beautiful sunset of my life, and I didn't want the beautiful evening to end.
We paddled out into the inky dark sea. Above us, the Milky Way cut through the dark sky, which was clear and free of light pollution. Our guide, the man who had rented the kayaks to us, paddled ahead of us, leading the way with only a small head lamp. He had trailed a fishing line and tiny green light behind him, and occasionally would reel the line in to show us a small squid that he had caught (squid love green lights for some reason!).
We ended up in the darkest spot we could find, beneath the shadows of a rocky cliff where we had been kayaking just hours before. There, the sea glowed a sparkling shiny blue where disturbed, the plankton sparkling like millions of tiny stars wherever a hand or paddle touched the surface of the water. It was incredible!
The glow was unbelievable, and unlike anything I have ever seen! Unfortunately my camera couldn't capture the plankton, though. The sparkling, though clearly visible to the eye, just didn't appear on camera. To get an idea of what it looked like, though, here's an article from BBC with some pictures taken on high-powered camera.
The plankton tour took another two hours or so. I can't describe how magical it was.
I guess that's the power of saying "yes".
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