Amazing Bioluminescent Lake in Tasmania Makes Water Glow Blue

This is by far one of the coolest natural phenomena I've ever seen..... in a video. But alas I will be making a trip to Tasmania very soon to see this:

Crowds gathered at a beach near George Town in Tasmania to witness the glow of bioluminescence at a beach, running their hands and feet through the bright blue water.In footage captured on Tuesday, March 14, the glowing water gave the stunning impression of an alien landscape against the dark backdrop of the sleepy town.
According to The Australian, the phenomenon is actually created by a living organism called Noctiluca scintillans as it feeds on plankton.
The illumination was also witnessed at Preservation Bay, further west along Tasmania’s north shore. According to the ABC, it is commonly called “sea sparkle.” Credit: CollingsCreative via Storyful

Apparently it's ok to swim in:






Looks like it's happened before in San Diego during red tide:


Nature is the ultimate psychedelic drug. This is right up there with Aurora Borealis!

a reply to: ColdWisdom

That looks so amazing, wow. Good find

Bioluminescence is cool

I was somewhere once, we were swimming in some nice warm Caribbean water about 30 feet deep in the dark, and suddenly we were all lit up with multi-colored little dots, mostly red or blue. It was beautiful - everyone was lit up with a sort of aura of little bioluminescent critters.

It sort of gives you away if you intend to be sneaky about swimming somewhere, but it's certainly pretty, if a bit unexpected.

a reply to: Bedlam

Oh man, blue and red? In the Caribbean?

Where and when was this Bedlam?

originally posted by: ColdWisdom
a reply to: Bedlam

Oh man, blue and red? In the Caribbean?

Where and when was this Bedlam?

Near Cuba. early 90s.

a reply to: Bedlam

I think it is safe to assume that phenomena like this (and then some) were around and visible to the ancients who lived thousands or hundreds of thousands of years ago.

I've always said that there IS magic in this world; you only need to know where to look for it.
S&F

As a [amateur] surfer and former Hawaii resident I remember putting this on my bucket list..

The organisms give off light when disturbed..i.e. wave crash or surfboard...
Bioluminescence is the best



-Chris

a reply to: Christosterone

I'm thinking that if I were there to see it up close I would want to grab a large transparent glass bowl and scoop some up out of the ocean to take back inside to photograph and play with in the dark.

In the first video somebody brought their Canon 10D with them and got some very well composed slow motion shots. I particularly like the close up shot of the person's feet entering the water at 0:39.

a reply to: ColdWisdom

Bioluminescence is among the greatest evolutionary feats our kingdom[animal] has ever devised...

Southern Californians have all the luck...perfect weather and their land is an eden of sorts..

My only exposure to such magnificence was with insects as a kid..
Sadly human children have all but eradicated "lightning" bugs from earth...
I remember them lighting up the west texas sky every night...

Now, they are gone...

-Chris

Having grown up in Tasmania, it is certinally a magnificent spectacle to witness. They would stick to things for a period and continue to glow.

Dinoflagellates. You don't have to go to Tasmania, or a warm ocean current, to find them. You can buy them for $60 in a kit that makes a nice dinosaur lamp from them.

Gave one to my oldest for Christmas. They have a very narrow temp range they are comfortable in, so leaving them near a window when its cold outside will kill the whole colony and render your dino light dark. At least, that is how it happened with him.

a reply to: Christosterone

Southern Californians have all the luck...perfect weather and their land is an eden of sorts..

Except that their water is an ugly greenish blue most of the year, it's always freezing, and they have sharks.

I'll take the gulf coast or Miami Beach any day.

BEAUTIFUL!!!
Nice find! Posts like this are like an ATS vacation away from politics, and bad "proof" of the supernatural!

One of my favorite phenomena. If it happens again locally I'll be able to see it from where I am. It's a beautiful turquoise in the daytime as well and of course not as spectacular as in the night but still just as magical. There is a drawback, the "bloom" means less oxygen in the water that can potentially affect the environment.

Yeah. When your boat wake starts lighting up it makes it easier to stay awake on watch.

On the beach, as kids, we'd put glowing "war paint" on our faces.

Once, while night fishing, I spooked a ray and it took off, glowing like Moana's tutu in the movie. Took a while for my heartrate to settle.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Dinoflagellates. You don't have to go to Tasmania, or a warm ocean current, to find them. You can buy them for $60 in a kit that makes a nice dinosaur lamp from them.

My ex used to cultivate them in an giant erlenmeyer flask he nicked from his lab, this was before we met. I am told now that they were fun enough to play with in the flask but produced nowhere near as photo-responsive light as these large concentrations in bodies of water out in nature.

Nevertheless, an indoor experiment would be fun. But if I wanted to get the 'locals' experiences I'd travel on location.

a reply to: Christosterone

they still around in nc. to see if they in your area get a cylume light stick the yellow green kind activate it around dusk and hang it from some fishing line on a rod and move around slowly if any in the area they will flock to it. i tied a bunch of them sticks together on one line and went outside when the power was off for several days after a hurricane and hundreds of them were chasing after the cluster i was swinging around on my rope

There are a few like this around the world...one of the coolest things I have ever seen in person.