Last night I swam through the stars

Last night I saw something I had been waiting for years to see.

There are images in your life that will always stay with you, for instance I will always remember my cousin as a toddler sitting in the back seat of the car, strapped into her car seat as we were parked outside the local shop. It sounds really simple but there was this beam of sunlight shining right onto her, illuminating the dust floating through the air as she stared out of the window. It was so bright that, although I remember this image clearly, the colours have faded. A picture of innocence and childhood so beautifully lit.

Last night I saw something that I hope will never fade from my memory, I doubt it could, it was honestly one of the most beautiful and spectacular experiences.

In Shetland we call it mareel, but elsewhere, perhaps there is a better name for it, it is bioluminescent plankton. I think in some places it is known as sea sparkle, while, not as a beautiful word as mareel it describes it perfectly. You see the mareel glow when the water is disturbed, by wave or by hand or any creature travelling through it. My Dad had told me the best conditions to see it in, in October, on calm night, just after the sun has set when there is still a faint light in the West.

So, last night after I finished tea I got my lifejacket and a towel and ran down to the banks to the sea.

My plan was to row up the voe where Dad said he used to see the mareel as a boy after casting lines. I got down to the beach and before pulling the row boat down went and stood by the water. The night was so still you could see the stars reflected on the sea. I looked closer and at first I thought I was seeing more stars, but they were in the water, I immediately assumed it was something reflecting the last of the light, then I realised I was seeing mareel for the first time. It may sound a bit ridiculous that I didn't immediately clock what it was, but I just never expected to see it so clearly straight away. I walked out into the sea and my footsteps disturbed the water causing the mareel to shine. It was beautiful, I swirled my hands in the water and the ripples lit up and glowed. I was planning to row out immediately but I was so excited by it, it was beautiful, I ran up to the house again and got my sister Floortje down to the sea to show her.

I suppose it is clear now where the title of today's blog has come from, but I couldn't contain myself, I had to strip off and swim into the sea.

It's one thing to stand looking down into the water as the mareel lights up, it's another to be right in it, swimming through it, my arms reaching forward and lighting up the water I'm in. It was like swimming through the stars.

I couldn't swim for too long, it was pretty cold and I find it pretty terrifying swimming in the sea in the dark. You have no idea if a seal is right there two meters away, that would terrify me. I love seals, but swimming up to one  on a dark night in the cold sea I just couldn't handle.

I really hope I can catch the sight of the mareel again. It was so beautiful, especially last night as it was teamed up with the stars gleaming down and the mareel glowing up from in the water. That was another thing, before I always thought it as something glowing on the surface, but it's throughout the sea, which I suppose I really experienced when swimming through it.

Anyway, I thought I would share my experience with the mareel with you, because it really was one of the most boannie things I have ever seen, and I find it weird, thinking back to all the times it has been right there, at the shore, but I never had travelled down during the right light, at the right time of year to see it.

I hope to see it again.




Shetland words:
Mareel - bioluminescent plankton
Voe - an inlet of the sea, like a fjord but on a much shallower scale with hills either side rather as mountains. I'm assuming here all fjords are surrounded by mountains. Which is awesome.
Boannie - beautiful, like Scottish bonnie, to be honest not sure about this spelling at all. Just taking liberties with this one.
Banks - Maybe it is used commonly throughout Britain, but it means the beach for us basically.


"Gyan doon to da banks tae see da Mareel."