Northwest Dive Club

Matt talked me into getting up at the ungodly hour of 3am with the goal of doing a night to dawn dive at Redondo. After questioning his sanity and mine we headed out, bleary eyed and half asleep.

It was the best dive I have done in a long, long time.

Other than exchanging pleasantries with a local fisherman, it was amazing. The bioluminescence is off the hook, and it is BLUE! I have seen green, but never the blue fire that we experienced this morning. We didn't turn our lights on until we were over 50' down. Watching your arms and your buddy awash in blue fire is simply mesmerizing. Flashes and trails of blue marked crab and small fish that were scurrying away from you, all the while trailing blue fire.

Swimming up from the carousel boat the heavens began to glow green and Redondo began to appear in all its glory as the morning dawned. Visibility was tropical - you could see the entire Mast and 25'+ on either side. We rolled on our backs watching our bubbles and laughing into our regulators.

Simply magical.

Time to get geared up for dive 2...

Lovely report! I haven't done a night dive all summer; need to remedy that.

Damn. I picked the wrong time of year to leave.

Very much considering just not sleeping until I leave this weekend...who needs sleep anyway, when you can go DIVING?...

Cool! I saw the blue too. I was waving my blue smurf gloves, wondering "What the heck, am I narc'ed? It looks like the blue is coming off my gloves'"

Dive #2 was 'only' 40' viz as the tide continued to ebb. We watched the tide Exchange bring a layer of brown Goo - kind of yucky but did not spoil an awesome dive.

I leaked a little from my neck seal and we both have things going this afternoon so we are calling it a morning, but we will do this again tomorrow - we're thinking TTN.

If you can do a night dive in the south end, do it! I am in love with blue fire!

Tom Nic wrote:I leaked a little from my neck seal and we both have things going this afternoon so we are calling it a morning, but we will do this again tomorrow - we're thinking TTN.

If you can do a night dive in the south end, do it! I am in love with blue fire!

Doing a Dawn dive or night at TTN tomorrow?

I am guessing dawn. Probably splash around 5. Doing majority of it sans light if the fire is the same.

The blue biolume really is cool. I did a Redondo night dive with Sounder recently and it was coming out the back of the scooter like a rocket with a blue flame. It was awesome.

LCF wrote:Lovely report! I haven't done a night dive all summer; need to remedy that.

Thanks Lynne! And yes you do... need to remedy that. I don't know how long the particular critter lasts that is causing the blue fire, but it is not to be missed. It is every bit as beautiful as any critters I've seen in the light.

eliseaboo wrote:Damn. I picked the wrong time of year to leave.

Very much considering just not sleeping until I leave this weekend...who needs sleep anyway, when you can go DIVING?...

Yes you did!! Although there are a bunch of us that think any time would be the wrong time for you to leave. A bunch of we your dive buddies are going to miss your life and energy and critter love! :luv:

YellowEye wrote:Cool! I saw the blue too. I was waving my blue smurf gloves, wondering "What the heck, am I narc'ed? It looks like the blue is coming off my gloves'"

Yeah, It was the closest I have felt to a superhero, "flying" along underwater with blue flame all around me and shooting from my hands. "I am a superhero!!"

airsix wrote:The blue biolume really is cool. I did a Redondo night dive with Sounder recently and it was coming out the back of the scooter like a rocket with a blue flame. It was awesome.

That would have been awesome to see Ben! The slightest movement had every square inch awash in several inches of blue flame, I can only imagine what a scooter wash would have looked like.

Bioluminesence fascinates me so much, diving, sailing, rowing, motoring along. My best experience took place off Cape Flattery a couple of years ago. I was standing a night watch during a yacht delivery. I heard the sound of splashing and stepped out on deck to see a pod of Dall porpoise bow riding. The biolume made them perfectly visible while under water, including their distinctive markings. They left wakes of bubbles that looked like drunken torpedos. These marvelous creatures disappeared from view when they leaped into the night air, only to become reilluminated upon re-entry. My brain didn't register what was happening since this reversed how we normally see sea life, i.e. visible in air and hidden in water. The porpoise made these moments, alone at night at sea, verge on magical. Thanks for reminding me.
-Curt

H20doctor wrote:http://vimeo.com/m/29871792

Awesome video! Tom and Matt were carving those waves. I had no idea they could surf like that!

H20doctor wrote:http://vimeo.com/m/29871792

Red Tide.
Oh well, I'm in?

Wow! Inspiring video and report! I definitely want to see the blue flames for myself. I found bioluminescence while I was on San Juan Island this past weekend. Does the bioluminescence come from the same creatures that cause red tide? I'm just astonish by how ubiquitous is is around the sound? Thanks for the report!

franroque wrote:Wow! Inspiring video and report! I definitely want to see the blue flames for myself. I found bioluminescence while I was on San Juan Island this past weekend. Does the bioluminescence come from the same creatures that cause red tide? I'm just astonish by how ubiquitous is is around the sound? Thanks for the report!

Red tide is caused by a large concentration of phytoplankton, usually dinoflagelltes if you want the typical red/brown color. However these bioluminescence tides are probably caused by a bloom of the species Noctiluca scintillans Noctiluca are dinoflagellates and during the day you will see sort of a brownish/orange soda colored bloom, but at night they glow a bluish color.

citycatred wrote:

franroque wrote:Wow! Inspiring video and report! I definitely want to see the blue flames for myself. I found bioluminescence while I was on San Juan Island this past weekend. Does the bioluminescence come from the same creatures that cause red tide? I'm just astonish by how ubiquitous is is around the sound? Thanks for the report!

Red tide is caused by a large concentration of phytoplankton, usually dinoflagelltes if you want the typical red/brown color. However these bioluminescence tides are probably caused by a bloom of the species Noctiluca scintillans Noctiluca are dinoflagellates and during the day you will see sort of a brownish/orange soda colored bloom, but at night they glow a bluish color.

Great info

YellowEye wrote:Cool! I saw the blue too. I was waving my blue smurf gloves, wondering "What the heck, am I narc'ed? It looks like the blue is coming off my gloves'"

bucknaked wrote:

citycatred wrote:

franroque wrote:Wow! Inspiring video and report! I definitely want to see the blue flames for myself. I found bioluminescence while I was on San Juan Island this past weekend. Does the bioluminescence come from the same creatures that cause red tide? I'm just astonish by how ubiquitous is is around the sound? Thanks for the report!

Red tide is caused by a large concentration of phytoplankton, usually dinoflagelltes if you want the typical red/brown color. However these bioluminescence tides are probably caused by a bloom of the species Noctiluca scintillans Noctiluca are dinoflagellates and during the day you will see sort of a brownish/orange soda colored bloom, but at night they glow a bluish color.

Great info

another reason NOT to drink the water

franroque wrote:Wow! Inspiring video and report! I definitely want to see the blue flames for myself. I found bioluminescence while I was on San Juan Island this past weekend. Does the bioluminescence come from the same creatures that cause red tide? I'm just astonish by how ubiquitous is is around the sound? Thanks for the report!

And I can confirm that the bioluminescence around Friday Harbor was cause by a bloom of Noctiluca after a net tow I did today ^.^

We saw the blue fire all the way down here by San Francisco this evening. The waves breaking on the beach off 1 were amazing, especially in the pitch blackness!!

Whoo Hoo

eliseaboo wrote:We saw the blue fire all the way down here by San Francisco this evening. The waves breaking on the beach off 1 were amazing, especially in the pitch blackness!!

The sea is filled with wonders, and we are privileged to share a small portion of them!

Tom Nic wrote:

eliseaboo wrote:We saw the blue fire all the way down here by San Francisco this evening. The waves breaking on the beach off 1 were amazing, especially in the pitch blackness!!

The sea is filled with wonders, and we are privileged to share a small portion of them!

I agree -- I was commenting to Ethan how it felt like some big secret. How many people drove right on past the waves on 1 last night? The night before? How many people even realize plankton that make light exist? It was a really cool experience.

Tom Nic wrote:

eliseaboo wrote:We saw the blue fire all the way down here by San Francisco this evening. The waves breaking on the beach off 1 were amazing, especially in the pitch blackness!!

The sea is filled with wonders, and we are privileged to share a small portion of them!

I agree -- I was commenting to Ethan how it felt like some big secret. How many people drove right on past the waves on 1 last night? The night before? How many people even realize plankton that make light exist? It was a really cool experience.