Bioluminescence is so much fun!

A highlight of our visit to this island was our boat ride and swim at night to see the phosphorus. Phosphorus, also known as bioluminescence is the emission of light during the chemiluminescence reaction by living organisms. These fancy words mean that when you get in the water with a mask on and move your arms and legs there is a glow – much like a star trail in the sky but in the water. At first is was a bit scary to jump of the boat into the dark night but it was totally worth it! We thought it looked like fireflies in the water, so pretty and magical. With practice, we learned that moving slowly made for the best view and if you went underwater into the deep dark parts, it was even more visible. Later we read that researchers are working with bioluminescence to see if they can create systems for street and decorative lights! That seems fantastical and very futuristic! If you want to see what the bioluminescence looks like – check out the video – it is not exactly what we saw but you will get the idea:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHmaAzV2WGs

Overall, our visit to Koh Rong Sanloem, was a nice break from our other adventures and different than other places we visited. Alex wants to say that we loved the puppy, Mandy, that was at the resort to play with and the other cats and dogs there. 

As you can see from the photos, getting to spend so much time outside, eating, walking, reading and relaxing was also nice – especially as we knew from updates at home in Canada that they were dealing with some pretty intense winter weather! Building a sandcastle was fun, even though the retriever Jenny came and took a liking to the stick bridge we made! It was nice to walk the beach to sit on one of the many swings suspended from wooden polls over the water. 

All in all, this was a great spot and one we would return to – unless we were busy exploring another island - just dreaming!!!