The Bioluminescent Algae - or Red Tide Phenomenon
I arrived in Southern California one night in May 2001. It was my first time in Cali and I was so excited to be here! My sister picked Kristy and me up at the San Diego Airport and off to Camp Pendleton we went where I lived the better part of four years. Since then, I've moved a couple times but I've always come back to SoCal. I lived in Old Grove, KY for a few months in 2006 and in Kokomo, IN for a few months in 2008-2009, but after both moves I came back to Cali and I'd like to think this is where I'm staying.
The point of that background story is that, in the 19 years I've lived here, I'd never once seen (or even heard of!) the bioluminescent algae that causes the "red tide" phenomenon. Recently, however, I started seeing it all over my social media and news outlets, articles from publications as far as UK were talking about it, and believe me when I say this - it was all news to me! I could not believe that I did not know about this bioluminescent algae until now. I know I've left SoCal for a few months at a time, but to have never heard of such a phenomenon in 19 years seemed impossible! Was I just never paying attention the last times this happened? Did people not post about it like they're doing this year? Was I out of town or living somewhere else?! How come I never knew about this?! I guess I'll never know!
None of that matters anymore though, because two weeks ago I finally had the chance to see it and it was a beautiful sight to see! It was a full moon so it wasn't as visible as it has been on other nights, but I was able to get a couple photos and enjoy its beauty nonetheless. I was pretty stoked that I got to see it - it really is amazing! I'm not gonna lie, it does look fake but it's obviously not. There are tons of informational websites that explain all about it if you wanna know more - it's just such an interesting thing to watch!
If you had the chance to go see it, that's awesome! Jess saw it too and she was gracious enough to share a couple of the photos she took. The "red tide" usually lasts a week or two (and the smell is horrible!), but this time around it lasted a lot longer, so hopefully everyone went to see when it was around it because who knows when you'll have the opportunity again!
(photo taken on 20200506 with my Samsung S20 Ultra camera on night mode - no flash)
(photo taken on 20200506 with my Samsung S20 Ultra camera - no flash)
(photo taken on 20200508 with a Canon EOS REBEL T5i camera by Jess LaRue)
(photo taken on 20200508 with an iPhone 11 Pro camera - no flash - by Jess LaRue)