Bio-Luminescents...

[RadRob]

When night diving, be sure to check out the bio-luminescents. Absolutely captivating. I had my light off and I spent five minutes just waving my hands in the water during a deco stop. Looks like someone slipped acid in your drink or something.

I attached a pic to show what I am talking about.

What it is... What you are seeing is single-celled bioluminescent dinoflagellates. These half-plant, half-animal organisms emit a flash of bluish light when agitated at night. The high concentration of these creatures (Pyrodimium bahamense) can create enough light to read a book from. Some places have tons of them and the show is awesome. A place with a lot of them is in Vieques Island, Puerto Rico called "Bio-Bay". Truly awesome.

The Flower Gardens off the Texas/Louisiana coast has some, but not as many as pictured here.

There is a company that has based an entire business on the genes of these organisms. They make anything from glasses that glow, to icing for cakes, to additives for beverages.

 

[drbill]

Know what you mean. I enjoy the bioluminescence while kayaking at night as well.

Funny thing is that we have salt water toilets here. When you go in to pee, and don't turn on the bathroom light, you are often hit with a light show due to the stream of water agitating the dinoflagellates in the toilet bowl. Can be quite a surprise for someone who isn't aware of the fact!

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Hi RadRob,
Welcome to SB...

I used to like to go up to the bridge when a submarine is making a surface transit at night. The dolphins race them and the front of the hull glows from the bioluminescence Very cool..

Later,
Scot

 

[HowardE]

When night diving, be sure to check out the bio-luminescents. Absolutely captivating. I had my light off and I spent five minutes just waving my hands in the water during a deco stop. Looks like someone slipped acid in your drink or something.

Oh... is that what that is... I thought it WAS a flashback for sure.

 

[DennisW]

Night dives are a lot of fun. I really like to turn my light off and watch the bioluminescence. I normally do night dives with my light off. I turn it on only to look at something specific. Usually there are enough divers with light enough to light up the entire ocean anyway.