the red tide

 

Last night the kids and I headed down to the boardwalk to watch the sunset and see the red tide.  Masses of algae in the ocean have bloomed to form what is known as the red tide during the day.  It occurs at all hours, but when these things are jostled, they produce a blue light that is best seen in the dark. 

A friend first showed it to me earlier this week before an early morning run.  The light glowing from the ocean waves is spectacular.  I wanted the family to see it so the next morning before an early yoga class, I took some photos and made a video.  Of course, none of these turned out.  The next best option was to take the family to see it at night.  This means keeping the kids up past their bedtimes, but it's really something to see and worth it. 

We watched it with friends last night but there was too much light being produced from the street lights to get a really good view.  We did, however, catch the gorgeous sunset and two pods of dolphins swimming up the shoreline.  After leaving our friends, the kids and I drove down the coast towards home and stopped in a couple of places.  The best viewpoint was from a locals-only surfers' beach called Beacon's.  Parking is atop a cliff and in the middle of a residential area.  Nobody goes there and there are no street lights along this cliff-side street.  It was perfectly black at 8pm and the show from the glowing ocean was awesome.  The kids loved it.     

Not my photo, but this is what the glowing ocean looks like.