Fun in the Head!

[GeoPowers]

Ok, so we're a little bored at anchorage near Coupeville instead of our planned destination, voluntarily stuck due to the weather passing through, and thought I'd share something neat I experienced for the first time last night-

It was about 9:30pm (dark out but full moon), about an hour before we made it to anchorage, and I went down below to use the head. ("Ray", our Raymarine autopilot, had the helm.) Not wanting to ruin my night vision, I left the lights off and fired away. COOL! I just made fireworks in my bowl while using the head!!! The phosphorescence created my tiny marine life came to life after being "agitated". Even better was flushing, as the whole line to the waste tank glowed brightly. I never thought I'd see that in a head before! It did make me feel slightly redneck, because I had to get the wife into the head and tell her to "check this out!!!"

Just thought I'd share a funny/neat story. I'm sure a lot of you have seen this, but this was my first time! KEWL!!

[idpnd]

your urine is glowing in the dark? are you a homer simpson type nuclear worker?

[senormechanico]

Try rowing the dinghy in total darkness. That's fun as well.

My two fondest memories of phosphorescense:

First, on a totally still night in Barkley sound, with the sky full of stars and no moon, the phosphorescence was very active with tiny things swimming in the water.
It was impossible to tell where the sky left off and the water began. It was like being suspended in space.

The second one was when we were offshore heading down the West coast on the way to Mexico. In the middle of the night (again, no moon) we were blasting along under sail and dolphins began heading toward our bow to ride the wake. We could see them approaching the boat at an angle and at the same speed as the boat. Approaching, they and their wakes looked like under water glowing torpedoes.

It was magic.

Steve B.

[GordMay]

You are probably seeing Chemiluminescence, rather than Phosphorescence.
Dinoflagellates (marine plankton) are Bioluminescent, a naturally occurring chemical reaction producing light (hence, chemiluminescence).

[anjou]

How fantastic. Life never stops coming up with surprises.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by GeoPowers

Even better was flushing, as the whole line to the waste tank glowed brightly. I never thought I'd see that in a head before! It did make me feel slightly redneck,



KEWL!!

See through sewage plumbing is definitely redneck.

[GeoPowers]

Yeah, my favorite BioLum memory is probably while doing a night dive on a night where it was very active/bright. At one point we turned off our dive-lights and we could see the light trails made by us swimming and moving arms, etc.