bioluminescence | Thinking Through My Lens

The night sky was the inspiration that Kevin offered the writers at #verselove today. He shared Ada Limon’s poem, In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa and it was the line, “still, there are mysteries below our sky” that caught my attention and sent me to my beloved ocean. I found myself remembering wandering the night beach and oohing and aahing as the waves crashed with the florescent light of bioluminescence, creating a private fireworks show right in the sea.

Rewrite the Ocean

Oceans conjure

sunny skies, umbrella drinks, coconut body oils

and a hint of salt as you lick your upper lip

When the sky drops

and orange and red dances across the horizon

darkness descends

In the black of night

the magic of living chemistry

millions of microscopic creatures

light up the sea

Each crashing wave

a sliver of bioluminescent day

in brilliant greens and turquoises

Night sky rewrites the ocean

slows time with dramatic pauses

as it paints the inky seas

with light

Day is for sunbathers

vacationers

swimmers and beachcombers

Night is for dreamers

igniting wonder

deeper than earth’s vast

waters

Some of our beaches reopened this week–much to my delight. I’m back to walking the shoreline as often as possible (when the tide allows walking room that fits my work schedule). On Monday morning I noticed the mucky, murky waves…and remembered that we are in the midst of a red tide. A red tide is an algae bloom and all that muck is red algae.

During the day, the red tide is not particularly appealing…but at night, it’s spectacular! Last night we headed the beach after sunset, in the dusky light before darkness comes. We were surprised at the number of people at the beach–it had been a gloomy day and there was plenty of cloud cover. But then, people were not there for the sun…they were there for the light!

As we parked we noticed lots and lots of surfers heading to the beach. People kept their distances, but one glance at the waves told the story of why they were at the beach as darkness was settling over the sea. As waves crashed, the water glowed brilliant blue!

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We watched surfers soaring through the electric blue of the waves, waders and swimmers trying to catch up to the light. Walkers and gawkers in their coronavirus masks kept their distances and tried to capture this bioluminescent phenomenon with their cameras.

I’m always reminded that I need to work on my night photography technique when I get these spectacular photo ops after the sun sets. But I keep trying anyway. Even if the photos don’t begin to capture nature’s beauty, they do give a glimpse into the wonders of bioluminescence. And it was a wonderful break from staying at home in my neighborhood!

wavy