It’s the week before Christmas and Tara’s Gallery theme is Sparkle.  I don’t have time to write a new post and in any case these are my sparkle pictures of the moment – phosphorescent waves lapping on the shore in the Maldives.  I don’t feel too guilty rejigging this post from a few weeks ago as the phosphorescence was one of the most amazing things I’ve seen in a long time and not many people spotted this post.  So here’s my offering for Sparkle:  Dancing on Stars.

It was our last night on holiday. Our bags were packed.  GP2 was already in bed.  We wandered out onto the beach for the last time.  The full moon we’d had all week was now waning, and was still hidden behind the palm trees.  We could see the Milky Way above us on this dark night with no city glow to disturb us.  But down at our feet, the waves lapping on the beach were shimmering bright blue, tracing chains on the sand like strings of Christmas lights or necklaces of sparkling stones.

I’ve been wandering along beaches most of my life but have never seen phosphorescence so bright or so blue. We paddled in the waves and as we lifted our feet the tiny algae attached to the soles cast an eery glow over the sand. We dragged a reluctant son out of bed and he was soon jumping in the wavelets with us.

We tried to take photographs in the darkness but, without a tripod to hand, we were taking pictures of blackness.  It was a magical moment, dancing on stars.