Red Tide

Lisa heard from a friend that there was a red tide at Torrey Pines beach. I knew that a red tide was an algae bloom and I'd heard that they can be quite pretty but I never realized that the algae in a red tide is bio-luminescent. According to Lisa's friend when the waves break and when they crash up on the shore they glowed. In my mind I imagined a faint blue glimmer that you might be able to notice if it was really dark or something. Boy was I mistaken. Tonight Lisa and I decided to go for a walk on the beach and see just how bright bioluminescent algae can be. 


It is bright. I didn't bother taking my expensive camera because I didn't think it would be all that dramatic and it wasn't bright enough that I could take a picture with my droid but it was really bright. Especially when the waves first crash. I downloaded the picture above from the internet. This is pretty much what an average wave looked like but when they first break they are much brighter. It was really quite eerie looking. As we were walking on the beach we then noticed that every time we took a step the sand around our feet would flash. It flashed quite bright too. I felt like I was in a video game or something with flashing lights all around me. Maybe if the red tide is still around tomorrow I'll take my nice camera and see if I can get any pictures. In any case, it was a very cool experience. 

---------------------trivia--------------------

People who live in cold environments have longer and 

bigger noses than people who live in warm environments.

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