Bioluminescent waves at Wright’s Beach in Sonoma Coast State Park

We spent a night with friends at Wright’s Beach in the Sonoma Coast State Park over Labor Day weekend

In the expensive, but grudgingly useful Zipcar on the way up

 

 

 

 

 

We missed a turn and ended up near Jenner.  Things were pretty in the fog.  We stopped off by the Jenner ‘C’ Store to look at the map and then turned around.

 

 

 

 

we made it to the campsite and settled in a bit.  the color of the light got crazy around sunset.. though you couldn’t see the sun through the fog.

 

 

 

 

The beach

 

 

 

 

We had a wonderful dinner with salad and grilled salmon.  At one point, I noticed that I could see the crests of the waves despite the darkness.  At first I thought it was the moon reflecting onto the water, but then I remembered that the moon would have been completely obscured by fog.  We talked about it and figured it might be bio-luminescent plankton (since then, I’ve found a few great photos and information here)

I was amazed.

 

 

 

 

so we ventured in for a closer look.  but we didn’t go near the water as we were scared off by the scary warning signs posted by the bathroom proclaiming, “DANGER THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST DEADLY BEACHES IN CALIFORNIA” and “ALWAYS WATCH FOR SLEEPER WAVES”.  I didn’t have my tripod, but took some handheld shots of the glowing blue waves.

 

 

 

 

beach partially lit by a headlamp.  holy bioluminescence!

 

 

 

 

After watching the waves for quite some time, we returned to the fire and made s’mores and toasted marshmallows.  yum.