Kayak Camping on Tomales Bay

From The California Beach Blog:

After some time around the fire, we were ready for the main act of the evening – bioluminescent dinoflagellates – or, glow-in-the-dark algae! Apparently during certain times of the year, these plankton are concentrated in the shallow waters of Tomales Bay. As we paddled out into the darkness we saw this magic in action. The plankton produce flickers of light when they are disturbed so every paddle stroke seemed to produce hundreds of tiny sparkles in the water. We could even see the paths of fish under the boat as they darted through the eelgrass, illuminated by the plankton. It was quite an experience and definitely one of the coolest natural phenomena we had ever observed.