A dazzling nighttime adventure at Point Reyes hides a grim truth |
During a dark and cloudless Saturday night out on Tomales Bay, the red lights on the back of a dozen kayaks bobbed on the water as the boats’ occupants paddled out toward Point Reyes National Seashore’s Hog Island.
Above, the vast firmament twinkled with stars and constellations as the occasional meteor shot across the sky like a firework, sending some kayakers into oohs and aahs, and giving others regrets for not glancing in the right direction.
But the incredible Geminid meteor shower wasn’t the main reason we were there. This was a mission to experience bioluminescence, the emission of light by living organisms.
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Our flotilla was part of a tour with Blue Waters Kayaking, which became the first company to offer kayak tours on this bay back in 1984. The bioluminescence tour cost $200 per person, and there was an initial hour of getting set up with gear and learning to use the kayaks, but things were finally getting good.
Blue Waters Kayaking bioluminescence tours depart around sunset on Tomales Bay.
Hog Island oysters were named after Hog Island in Tomales Bay.
When we reached the island, three guides escorted us through the narrow passageway between Hog Island and its smaller neighbor. The two islands looked like giant, dark heads rising from the water and crowned with eucalyptus trees, which were filled with cormorants.
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We were on a mission to find the best place in the bay for bioluminescence, which changes nightly depending on the weather and conditions. We’d know we found our spot when the motion of our paddles triggered the illumination of thousands — or possibly millions — of tiny plankton called dinoflagellates.
This is just one kind of bioluminescence, our guide Christie Galitsky explained as we took a break from paddling near the shore of Hog Island. There are also bioluminescent fireflies and fish and jellyfish and glow worms and........