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California Residents Spot Glowing Waves & Dolphins Swimming In Bioluminescence

byAkanksha Agarwal
29th April 2020
1 minute read

The coronavirus lockdown has definitely put the spotlight back on nature. Peacocks have been spotted dancing in the streets, jellyfish are blooming in the Philippines and now the magical phenomenon of “sea sparkle” has been seen in California.

According to the Los Angeles Times, beach waves were illuminated with a neon-blue hue over the weekend. This bioluminescence is caused by tiny single-celled organisms called dinoflagellates.

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•Manhattan Beach Bioluminescence• I really thought things were starting to slow down with the bioluminescence then this happens! My favorite beach in the world had it’s waves crashing with that beautiful blue glow! I’ve lived near Manhattan Beach my whole life and I never imagined seeing it here. For me personally it was really special and I’m grateful to live in such a beautiful area! I also want to make sure everyone knows that this video was shot with a zoom lens. I’m mentioning that because I was not on the beach whatsoever. I stood on the sidewalk section that is still open (right before the closed off section) and is a pretty good distance away from the beach. I didn’t stay for too long either, I got my videos and left with almost nobody in sight. I hope everyone’s been enjoying the bioluminescence posts lately. I can’t get enough of them. Make sure you watch this video all the way through to see the brightest waves at the end! Shot on my Sony a7iii with a Sony 70-300mm G OSS lens ——————————————————————————— Settings were: Shutter speed 1/50 F5.6 ISO 32,000

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Mail Online explains that when these organisms fear an attack by a predator, they produce chemicals which when combined with enzyme emits blue light for around 100 milliseconds.

Photographer Patrick Coyne managed to capture the stunning visuals while dolphins swam in the bioluminescent waters. He was quoted saying, “I’m not much of a crier, but as soon as the dolphins popped up, I definitely was shedding tears. It’s just such a magical moment. We definitely got lucky.”

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•Dolphins Swimming in Bioluminescence• Last night was truly one of the most magical nights of my life. Capt. Ryan @lawofthelandnsea of @newportcoastaladventure invited me along to capture rare video of Dolphins swimming in bioluminescence. The first time I saw this actually filmed was a few months back while watching a Night on Earth documentary on Netflix. The second I saw that footage it became a dream of mine to one day capture something similar and that’s exactly what we did. This was by far the most challenging video I’ve shot for a number of reason. For starters the bioluminescence has sweet spots to where it shows up and then fades away so while on the water it’s impossible to just find it. Not only that but actually finding any type of animal in pitch black is just so ridiculously hard. Conditions have to be absolutely perfect for the bioluminescence to show up and to have an animal swim through it so we can film it. On top of all that just trying to nail the focus at such a wide aperture with something moving in the water was a nightmare. We were out for a few hours and on our final stretch back we finally had 2 Dolphins pop up to start the incredible glowing show. A few minutes later and we were greeted by a few more which was insane. I’m honestly still processing this all and I can’t thank @newportcoastaladventure enough for having me out because without them none of this would be possible. Be sure to check our their edit from last night as well! I hope you all enjoy this video. ——————————————————————————— Shot on a Sony a7Sii with a Rokinon 35mm Cine DS T1.5 Lens. Shutter speed: 1/50 Aperture T2 ISO 80,000

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According to Forbes, this bloom is also referred to as red tide and can last for a month. They are caused by changes in ocean conditions but experts still cannot predict when they’ll start or end. So mysterious!

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•Newport Beach Bioluminescence• Last nights bioluminescence in Newport Beach was incredible! So far it’s the brightest I’ve ever seen. My buddy @markgirardeau called me letting me know that there was a red tide which was originally discovered by @visual_burrito earlier that day. It doesn’t always happen but a red tide could indicate some bioluminescence which is why we went. Keeping our distance of course I ended up getting some pretty incredible video showing how blue and bright it really was. If you’ve never seen bioluminescence before it’s definitely something you have to see with your own eyes! Newport Beach is among some of the beaches in Orange County that are still open, just wanted to mention that. Hope you guys enjoy the videos! ——————————————————————————— Filmed on my Sony a7iii with a Rokinon 35mm Cine DS T1.5 Setting we’re: Shutter speed 1/50 T1.5 ISO 80,000

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This surreal footage is sure to mesmerize anyone, don’t you think?

Cover Image Source – left, right

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