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Mother Nature has provided a radical gift to beach lovers at night in Southern California, in the form of bioluminescent waves that collide and foam with an otherworldly light.
The event occurs every few years along the southern California coast, though locals say this year’s ocean shine is especially vibrant, possibly related to historic rains that drenched the region and sparked algae bloom.
For some, this year’s light show was especially significant, just as beaches began reopening after a nearly month-long shutdown due to the coronavirus.
Dale Huntington, 37. Pastor of a church in southeast San Diego, he got up at 3 in the morning after the beaches reopened to surf the iridescent waves.
“I have been surfing for 20 years and have never seen anything like this,” Huntington said.
Neon waves owe their color to flowering microscopic plants called phytoplankton. During the day, organisms build up on the surface of the water to give the water a reddish brown hue, known as the red tide. At night, the algae give a light show, dazzling more intensely in troubled waters.
A photographer off the coast of Newport Beach, where crowds in recent weeks have protested against the closings, recorded a dolphin flying through bioluminescence as a marine specter.
The phosphorescent display has caught the attention of locals in Southern California, and many emerged from the shelter-in-place restrictions to glimpse the surreal landscape.
A certain San Diegan, who lives in a neighborhood along the coast, implored local officials to restrict access to the beach, complaining that the red tide has drawn large crowds comparable to a “Fourth of July on steroids “
For surfers like Huntington, the show has brought joy and relief amidst the challenges of the pandemic. “My favorite part was rowing, it was almost as if there was an incandescent stick around your hand,” he described. “My board left a bioluminescent trail. There were some of us there and we were laughing, adult men screaming “this is great” and splashing like kids in the tub.
Swimming, surfing, kayaking, and paddleboarding are permitted under the recently modified San Diego site shelter restrictions.
Red tides, which run from Baja California to the Los Angeles coast, have been observed since the early 1900s and can last anywhere from a few days to a couple of months. Scientists at the Scripps Institute for Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, who study the phenomenon, say the light shows are livelier at least two hours after sunset.
Scientists don’t know exactly how long this year’s red tide will last, but for Huntington, this year’s light show was doubly welcome.
“I think we are all looking for light in a dark moment,” he said. “And this sweet moment was an opportunity to find joy in the midst of the fight.”
