This is a special night watch eddition of our adventures. There is sometimes more to see at night on the ocean than during the day. This is one of those nights. They is no picture on this post because there are only two ways to experience what I am seeing at 4am. You either have to be here or close your eyes and let your inagination run wild. So lets go with option #2. First you have to close your eyes. This will require someone read the rest of this post to you but just reading it to yourself you will never experience the beauty of what is really going on. So eyes closed and lets get started. Your are stairing ito a pitch black night. There is absolutly no moon. It is the kind of dark that almost makes your eyes hurt when you look into it. As your eyes ajust to the darkness you start to see stars. Bright ones that are actually planets show first and then you start to notice what looks like white fog in the sky. As you look closer you realize what you are seeing is clouds of stars where no individual star is visable yet you can see them as a group. Just like you can see a beach but not the individual grains of sand. Eyes still clossed. Suddenly a bright flash draws your attention to the North. That is the direction you have jsut come from. As you watch you see another flash and then another. Thunderstorms that form the ITCZ are building and filling the horizon with lightning. They are about 100 miles away so there is no thunder but the night is so black and the light so bright it etches the curve of the ocean with each flash. You say to yourself, 'I'm sure am glad that's behind me!". Remember eyes closed. To night there is another exceptionally active phinominon in play and its called posforecenc. Posforecenc is light given off by tiny animals when they are disturbed. The ocean is full of these tiny creatures. Normally you see then glow when you look at the water passing past the stern of the boat. It leaves a green trail like a sparkling glow stick. But tonight is different, suddenly you see tubes of green light streaking towards the boat. There are dozens of these strange tubes streaks wandering back and forth. Some are single while others are in pairs. Some times there is a group of three or four and they move very fast. They are darting through the water. This is the stuff you only see in movies only this is real. Suddenly you realize these tubes of green light are dolphins and they are playing with the boat! As they swim they disturbe the tiny creatures that give off this lgrean ight. You stare mezmerized into the water as these dolpins put on a show like you have never s een before. In day light you only see a dolphin when it is close to the surface, at night you see everywhere they go. You watch as they go under the boat and back out and under and back again. You see two or three playing together and you are facinated by how fast and agile there mamals are. So that is what is going on at 4am tonght near the equator of the Pacific Ocean.. As I say there is allot to see on or in the ocean at night. Oh yeh, open your eyes or just sit with them closed and keep imajining what you have just seen. It is increadable.