Catalina Questions

[fnfalman]

Very cool. I'll check those out and hopefully we'll run across some. I just bought myself an LED light for doing some night dives there. I'm told there are bioluminescents at night, or are they just lying? I'm really excited to go, only one week left...

Bioluminescence is always there in the ocean, the intensities depend on the current, tidal and whatever else that brought all that stuff to that particular part of the ocean at that time. Sometimes it's so thick that you can wave your hand and see it. Sometimes it's barely visible.

Don't go crazy with the light because believe it or not, the lights are pretty bright in open water and you don't need a Death Star laser gun in order to see.

It's pretty cool to go down with a light and then just shut it of for a bit then light that mother up again to see all sorts of stuff that came out during the darkness.

The Death Star lights are cool if one were to dive in a wreck or cave or photography, but for general rec diving with decent visibility, something in the 100-lumens is plenty. I usually dive with a Prince Tec Shockwave II LED (I think it's around 120-lumens) and that is plenty of light. Hell, most of the time I use my secondary which is the UK QD40 LED which takes four AA batteries and puts out maybe 30-something lumens. And then if I were to see something that I would want to investigate in finer details then I'd fire up the Shockwave. So in effect, my primary is actually secondary if that makes any sense at all.

 

[Kimusubi]

Yeah I think I got the Shockwave LED as well. I'll be interested to see some creatures at night, I just hope they're not big enough to eat me...=)

 

[drbill]

One of the best ways to view bioluminescence here on Catalina is to stumble into the bathroom late at night, do not turn on the lights, do your "duty," then flush. We have salt water toilets and the bioluminescent display can be pretty spectacular when the dinoflagellates are thick. I call it the "green flush."

 

[Kimusubi]

I'm not sure what to think of that one. I guess since it's my own urine, it's ok...? I was hoping for more of a mystic experience with the bioluminescence...=D

 

[drbill]

Well, you don't actually have to "do" anything... just flush the toilet. It's salt water so you aren't wasting our limited fresh water.

 

[princessaprilia]

One of the best ways to view bioluminescence here on Catalina is to stumble into the bathroom late at night, do not turn on the lights, do your "duty," then flush. We have salt water toilets and the bioluminescent display can be pretty spectacular when the dinoflagellates are thick. I call it the "green flush."

Wow, drbill. You sure know ALL the cool places to hang out. :cool2:

 

[drbill]

You haven't seen my bathroom... it is pretty cool!