Dark Nights, Island Campsites, and the Life-Affirming Glories of Edibles and Bioluminescence

The stars are alive and they are everywhere.

This last summer I got one of those brass ring assignments I get lucky to score every so often. The kind of adventure that causes me, to the extent that I can do so scrupulously, clear or rearrange my calendar to accommodate the outing. In this case, a four-day, inter-island kayak camping tour of Washington’s San Juan Islands.

I go paddling semi-regularly but had never been sea kayaking before. This trip came with the bonus of camping in the San Juans. Additionally, I would go with an outfitter - so it would be a guided affair with other guests along for the ride. I love trips like that. I’ve done numerous backpacking and rafting excursions in the same vein, and every one of them has been damn near transcendent, I shit you not.

And on top of all of that, the itinerary mentioned the potentiality of an evening bioluminescence paddle, which I had never witnessed in person thus piquing my interest that much more. Altogether, it sounded like a dream adventure for yours truly. I would also like to take the time to mention that the outfitter on this particular trip, Outdoor Odysseys, was outstanding across the board and I can’t recommend them highly enough. Always give shout-outs to the deserving.

Before I go any further, here’s a quick primer on some of the differences between smoking and ingesting cannabis for the out-of-practice or uninitiated. When consumed orally, you can expect a longer lead time before the onset of the effects, which are all but immediate when smoked. But because of the way it is processed through the body and the liver when eaten, those same effects can be stronger and last longer. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the major psychoactive component found in cannabis. So when you consume an edible that contains THC it typically has a slightly different, but ultimately stronger effect. There are some other things going on, but that’s the gist. 

It’s a regulated industry in Oregon and Washington that’s been around for a while. For some time now, folks have been able to go into any dispensary and purchase cannabis products that vary widely with regard to anticipated effects and exact dosage levels. Allowing those who partake to really dial in their experience without much risk of missing the mark. There’s essentially cannabis for almost every occasion at this point. After a consultation with my local budtender, I purchased a pack of “looking at the stars from my tent on an island in the San Juans,” ginger gummies.

After a day of acclimating, I developed an appreciation for the Zen of sea paddling. I’ll cover that more in-depth when I pen the story I’m writing for print magazine consumption. But for now, I will say if I’m ever lucky enough to go on an adventure like that again I’ll be bringing along a bag of “I was paddling as one with the water, while the orcas sang below and the eagles soared above, man,” salted chocolates.

Our first home would be Jones Island. The entire, relatively small-ish land mass is a State Park only accessible by boat. And the camp that we resided in for two days was in a cozy cove that’s part of the Cascadia Marine Trail - with sites strictly reserved for those arriving by human or wind-powered watercraft. How wonderful is that? We got lucky and were able to secure a premier spot with million-dollar views from every campsite.

After setting up camp, exploring the island on foot, and enjoying dinner followed by some quality campfire time, most of our party retired to their sleeping bags for the evening. I had taken my tent edible about 45 minutes prior but was still hanging out and enjoying conversation with a delightful younger couple from our party. I was awaiting the edible’s onset, at which time I would head back to my camp and enjoy the light show from the stars while drifting away into restful, well-earned slumber. It was about that time that our guide whisper-yelled, beckoning the three of us down to the quiet cove.

Using our headlamps, we navigated through the darkness down to the water's edge where our guide was standing in calf-deep water holding a kayak paddle. At her request, we turned off our lights. We all stood silent and curious for a few beats when I was able to just make out the faint white of a Cheshire cat grin emerging from her face. An instant later she began swirling the paddle through the water in long, elegant strokes. At first, I lost my shit internally - watching what looked like aquatic blue flames tailing and twisting through the water behind the course of her paddle. And then, as often occurs when things are so damn good I can’t handle them, I began giggling like a schoolgirl. Only this time, there was a little extra joie de vivre involved - a little more oomph. At the most opportune moment imaginable, my edible had announced its arrival.

Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by living organisms and is a form of chemiluminescence. It occurs widely in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi and numerous microorganisms. It’s the same deal that’s going on with fireflies - only in the ocean. And if conditions are right, which includes calm waters and no light pollution, that shit can really show out.

We waded into the water and began producing our own radiating waves and pulses of blue light. We splashed, skipped rocks, and in as many other ways as we could collectively muster, conjured the phosphorescence into existence. We reveled and exclaimed in amazement at each newly discovered means of manifestation. I repeatedly plunged my arms into the water before bringing them rapidly up to my face for closer inspection. And I marveled as tiny blue stars cascaded down my unfolding limbs, through my fingertips, and back into the water.

I raised my gaze from the cove towards the sky, and gasped at the seamless visual transition of twinkling lights from the water, up to and through the horizon, and into the Milky Way. Experiencing this, in that time and place, and where I happened to be mentally and emotionally, resulted in a moment that I instantly recognized as one I would look back on evermore as a highlight of my travels. And thanks to the continuance of optimal conditions, there was an encore performance for the whole crew the next night followed by a proper paddling excursion the evening after that. But that first experience for me was the embodiment of magic.

Beyond what I realized in the moment, I also knew that someday when the curtains begin to draw closed on the story that is my life, this will be one of the vignettes that plays pleasantly and repeatedly in my mind. It turns out that in a fantastical stroke of luck, those same “looking at stars from a tent” gummies doubled perfectly as, “I’m here to tell you that the stars are alive and they live everywhere, man. You just have to know how to see them - like, really see them,” gummies. I can tell you unequivocally that I would hold this experience in the same lofty regard whether edibles would have been involved or not. I’m just saying, they most certainly didn’t hurt.