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Post by skywalker on Mar 29, 2011 21:23:28 GMT -6
Phosphorescent Bays in Puerto RicoThis is a place that Heidi should like. Actually there are two of them. La Parguera Phosphorescent Bay is a bay on the coast of Puerto Rico that is filled with billions of tiny little microscopic bioluminescent organisms called dinoflagellates that glow when disturbed. This phenomenon only occurs in a few places around the world, usually in isolated bays in the tropics. La Parguera is on the southwest coast about 45 minutes west of Ponce and 20 minutes from Guanica. It is one of two areas in Puerto Rico where this remarkable phenomenon occurs. The other is Phosphorescent Bay on the offshore island of Vieques. The tour boats regularly take people out to the island to witness the amazing spectacle of glowing water. Night is the best time to visit. Then people can splash about in angelic splendor while boats and fish zip through the water leaving a lighted trail behind them. When it rains the entire bay will light up in spectacular colors, turning pink, green and blue as raindrops hit the water. It is an amazing sight that has to be seen to be appreciated.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2011 3:04:29 GMT -6
Wow... that's really kewl!!
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Post by skywalker on Mar 30, 2011 6:36:28 GMT -6
The world is an amazing place.
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sansseed
Full Member
Failure is not an option
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Post by sansseed on Mar 30, 2011 8:08:31 GMT -6
I think I have another thing to add to my bucket list.
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Post by heidihybrid on Mar 30, 2011 16:28:06 GMT -6
Wow! Thanks Skywalker!! I never knew about the glowing water on my place. I hope I can go there some day, sure sounds like an exciting place!! ;D ;D ;D
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Post by casper on Mar 30, 2011 18:55:22 GMT -6
OH WOW! Is this place real? I have GOT to go there! That is so coool! That girl looks like a ghost angel floating in the water. Where is Peurto Rico? I don't see it on my map. Is it in south America? Or is it one of those islands in the carribean? I will see if I can find it on this computer.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2011 19:07:31 GMT -6
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Post by Steve on Mar 30, 2011 19:45:55 GMT -6
Bio-luminescent plankton. Not uncommon behind ships at night, the the ships propellers and hull stir up the plankton.
Remember the movie Apollo 13? Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) related years earlier an electrical short that caused him to lose his instruments on his F2H Banshee one night at sea. He could see the stars enough to know where the horizon was, but the darkness revealed something else too....he spotted the bio-luminescent plankton stirred up by his carrier's wake - enough to follow miles back, the plankton guiding him back home.
Steve
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Post by paulette on Mar 30, 2011 21:35:05 GMT -6
There was bio-luminescent plankton in the Gulf of Mexico where I grew up. As teens we did the most daring thing possible - swimming naked in water that put glowing bits 0n one's hair and curves. However the daring part probably wasn't swimming nude. It was swimming in the dark and being obviously outlined. The predators (the men in gray suits) also swim and feed in this light. A friend once said to me - if you see a torpedo coming towards us, just kiss your donkey goodbye. He was a commercial fisherman and knew what came to the surface (and inshore) at night.
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Post by skywalker on Mar 30, 2011 22:22:44 GMT -6
Forgive me for saying this Paulette, but you are insane! There is no way you could get me to go swimming in the ocean at night, nude or otherwise. There are way too many things with teeth swimming around out there. If those sharks want to put the chomps on me they are going to have to get on a bus! Now, having said that I have to admit that I have gone scuba diving in the ocean at night but that is different. When I'm diving I can see what's going on around me so I'm not afraid of it. When I'm at the surface and I can't see what is underneath me about to rip my legs off, that is when the bejeepers get scared out of me. Ain't gonna do it! Of course, I suppose I could just as easily have gotten ate up while I was diving... Hmm...okay, maybe we are both insane.
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Post by skywalker on Mar 31, 2011 19:37:03 GMT -6
Bio-luminescent plankton. Not uncommon behind ships at night, the the ships propellers and hull stir up the plankton. Remember the movie Apollo 13? Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) related years earlier an electrical short that caused him to lose his instruments on his F2H Banshee one night at sea. He could see the stars enough to know where the horizon was, but the darkness revealed something else too....he spotted the bio-luminescent plankton stirred up by his carrier's wake - enough to follow miles back, the plankton guiding him back home. Steve I remember that story. That was a good movie. I had forgotten that these biolumithingies could be seen in the open ocean. They just seem to be much more concentrated in certain bays such as the ones in Puerto Rico. Supposedly each gallon of water in Phosphorescent Bay contains approximately 740,000 of those little glowing buggers. here's an interesting link with a pretty cool picture of a glowing beach. reefbuilders.com/2010/02/26/bioluminescent-plankton-aglow-ocean/
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Post by casper on Mar 31, 2011 20:40:28 GMT -6
Thank you for the map Lorelei. It took me forever to find it. I kept spelling Peurto Rico wrong. I think I just did it again.
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