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Capt. Dave's Ocean ReportAs
seen weekly in the Dana Point News/Orange County Register We saw lots of common dolphin this week; several megapods were in the area. Also offshore bottlenose dolphin, rissos dolphin and another blue whale. We still haven’t hit the mother load of blues, just a trickle now and then but any day now that could change. We also had a red tide out on the water this week. If you’ve never seen it, it turns the ocean a kind of a reddish brown color. It can cover a small area or go on for miles. Red tide is caused by a bloom of dinoflagellates. It actually has nothing to do with the tide whatsoever. These dinoflagellates are basically tiny plankton that is in the water all the time but occasionally if the conditions are right it reproduces in such large numbers that it turns the water red. There are tiny drops of red oil inside these one-celled dino’s and that is what actually turns the ocean red. It can sometimes be found in quantities as much as 20 million cells per liter. Some dinoflagellates can actually glow in the dark when they are disturbed. Not all of the different types of dinoflagellates are bioluminescent, or cause red tide but usually when we have these red tide blooms we have the bioluminescence also. If you have never witnessed this, you have got to see it. Anything that brushes or disturbs these bioluminescent one-celled creatures will cause them to glow a greenish blue. It is a chemical reaction that occurs in their tiny bodies and it is believed to be a defense since it calls attention to the attacker so that he then might become a meal for another animal. If you see red tide close to shore like it has been lately, that is a good time to go in search of the bioluminescence. It has to be very dark to see it, so it is best to look for it on a night with no moon showing and away from any lights. I remember one moonless night off San Clemente State park the waves were actually glowing bright green- blue as they would break. As my wife and I walked along the beach our footsteps in the wet sand would glow green - it was unforgettable! Another time, a friend of mine was swimming around our boat one night when we were moored over at Catalina and he looked like some kind of an angel swimming around, with all this green light radiating off him - and believe me this guy was no angel. He told me he could see the bottom fifty feet down in the pitch black when he waved his arms because the bioluminescence was so bright. I have been so blessed to see dolphins come over to the boat glowing like this and even a gray whale going under our boat like a green submarine. One night, years ago, I was coming back from Catalina under sail with my friend Mark, when the wind shut off. We decided to start the motor, but she wouldn’t turn over. It was getting late but being a self-sufficiency zealot, on the water, I refused to call for a tow. We put the dingy in the water; I tied it alongside my 35-foot sailboat and used my little 4hp motor to tow us back. It was pitch black, no moon and bioluminescence was everywhere in the black ocean. Every time a fish darted out of our way it glowed. My friend Mark told me there was something really big and glowing and following us. He told me it was heading for me in my small rubber inflatable. Naturally I did not believe him, but Mark started getting very excited. “Its getting closer Dave! It’s right behind you Dave!” So, I finally looked and sure enough something bigger than the dingy was closing in on us. With the seas a little rolly I really had to pay attention to where I was going, so I continued to push us along, figuring that whatever it was would not bother me. We both kept listening to see if it would ever come up for air - like a whale might or would it stay under - like a shark. It never came up for air. Mark kept giving me updates, “It’s getting closer, it’s moving faster, man that thing is huge, what is it?” I finally told him to knock it off. He was creeping me out, but being that it was 2:00 A.M. and I was very tired it wasn’t hard to creep me out a little. Anyway, it disappeared without us ever knowing for sure what it was. We also saw a mako shark and another Mola mola this week. That’s all there is till next time. God bless. Capt. Dave, over and out. Info on red tide from Scripps Institute and the Santa Barbara
Natural History Museum. |
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