![]() The phytoplankton, called dinoflagellates, look red in daylight, which is why when they appear in mass it’s called a "red tide." Scientists don't know exactly what causes red tides, though factors like ocean salinity and wind are thought to play a part. Millions of phytoplankton turn the waves a glowing blue at night, a phenomenon called bioluminescence. Otherwise you can view the colorful spots from a view point along Highway 3.Įvery few years a bit of magic touches the San Diego shores. To visit, you need permission from the Okanagan Nation Alliance and to make an offering-usually sage, tobacco or pennies-to the lake itself as a sign of respect. Depending on mineral type and concentration, the pools range from mustard yellow to milky jade to sapphire to deep navy. When the lake recedes in summer, it leaves behind isolated mini ponds of mineral-rich water. Spotted Lake-known as ‘Kliluk’ by the Okanagan First Nations people who own this land-is the polka-dotted result of seasonal evaporation. When July brings dry heat to British Columbia’s Okanagan and Similkameen valleys, a curious sight appears. It also lists travel agents who can help arrange tours, which depart from Perth, Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur. Christmas Island's tourism website lists possible spawning dates in advance migration occurs four to five weeks earlier, triggered by rain. The migration begins with the first rains in late fall or early winter. It’s spectacular, but not for those with kabourophobia (fear of crabs). The entire island is blanketed in scarlet, the air filled with the scuttling of claws on asphalt. The parting happens two or three times a year from March through June the festival is usually in April.Įach wet season in the Australian territory of Christmas Island, tens of millions of red crabs emerge from the forests to breed on the beaches. As soon as the road appears, revelers parade across the pebbly ridge en masse to gather clams and snap pictures on the smaller Modo Island. Some half a million people show up for a locally organized festival surrounding the rare event, where they sip blood red local hongju liquor and watch the iconic Jindo breed of dog perform tricks. In South Korea, these low tides cause a 1.7-mile path to emerge from the ocean floor between the islands of Jindo and Modo. The river runs colored from June through December, though it’s usually at its most brilliant in October.Ī few times a year, the forces behind the tides-the moon's cycle, the earth's rotation and movement-come into specific alignment, causing exceptionally low tides. See the spectacle on a guided tour only a few hundred visitors are allowed each day in order to keep the river pristine. An aquatic plant called Macarenia clavigera blooms crimson beneath the rushing waters, creating a “liquid rainbow” alongside the yellow sand, green algae-covered rocks and blue water. It's usually in June or July, and though scientists don't know exactly what causes the blooming, factors may include rain and the moon's cycle.Įach summer in Colombia’s remote Sierra de la Macarena National Park, the Caño Cristales river has an otherworldly transformation. But plan on being nearby until the “Queen of the Night” makes up her mind the bloom can only be predicted on the day it happens. Catch the annual show at Tucson’s Tohono Chul botanical gardens, with the largest collection of night-blooming cereus in the world. By morning the flowers have dried up, petals drifting to the desert floor. But for one magical summer evening, the plant bursts into vanilla-scented blooms as extravagant as wedding dresses. Tucson's Queen of the Nightįor 364 nights a year, the night-blooming cereus looks like a withered cactus. Here are eight other fleeting natural events for your bucket list. Unfortunately, it seems this year will be a disappointment a lack of rain means the fall has little to no water. This “firefall” phenomenon, originally forecasted for between February 13 and 27 this year, attracts thousands of gawpers and photographers to the eastern edge of El Capitan. In mid-February, if conditions are utterly perfect-good light, plenty of water, clear skies-Yosemite National Park’s Horsetail Falls, for a moment just before sunset, can look like a cascade of glowing lava.
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