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strange Phenomenon that we've seen at sea

31K views 68 replies 49 participants last post by  stphnwaldron 
#1 · (Edited)
While at sea, some of us have seen what could be described as strange Phenomenon at sea.
The green flash at sunset. Yes I've seen it about nine times over the years.
Requires clear air for it to happen. So looking toward a smog hazed horizon, it won't happen.

Water Spouts. In one afternoon saw six of them just east of the delta in the GOM.

Bright green flare (?). In the sea of Cortez seen one. vertically descending. Must have been a meteor.

Dolphins & Porpoises many times. Assorted species.

Sea turtles and a Sun Fish (a Moa). The Sun fish's upper fin looked like a large plank sticking out of the water, until we got close enough to view it in its glory.

Spinning shark. Once in the GOM

A Buoy floating in the middle of the atlantic Ocean. No idea what harbor it once guarded or came from.

Had a crewman report a fire on the horizon. If he had waited a few minutes he would have seen the upper limb of the moon come above the clouds. At that low altitude it appears fire red through the clouds due to smog.

A pod of Orcas feeding on the discards from the fishing vessel that I've captained in the Bering sea. Now that was something.

So what did all of you have seen out there?
 
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#2 ·
We always enjoy the bio-luminescence at night. It's especially funny when you're doing a night watch, go into the head at dark, pump some seawater into the bowl and see the water glowing. The bio-luminescent wake behind the boat is also pretty cool.

When going from central FL to Charleston we sailed through a Navy battle group doing exercises at 2am. There were seven assorted ships plus a carrier. We didn't know what they were. I was on watch and saw them appear on radar. I called the wife up from her sleep - "I have a lot of contacts and could use an extra set of eyes". I did securite calls to make sure that the ships knew I was out there. I realized we were on a collision course with one of the vessels if we stayed on track so I tacked over. AS I was tacking I get a call on the radio, "Sailing vessel located at latitude xxx longitude xxx, this is US Navy Warship xx (with the xx being a number I don't recall). Please switch and answer channel 82." I've never talked on 82 before, but I switched over. "Captain, what are your maneuvering intentions tonight?". I quote myself here - "My intention is to not hit you.". Response - "Hold your course and we'll avoid you captain." I was pretty amazed they didn't tell me to scram. It was incredible watching these huge ships charging past us on either side (displaying lights that certainly didn't follow any Coast Guard regulations I've seen, like the flashing green light [like a police car light] on the aft deck of one). Anyway - not a strange phenomenon, but not something you see every day.
 
#3 ·
Mid Pacific a crew member reported a very bright cruise ship approaching. It was the moon rising.

A great many one foot squares of plastic, I though some boat was head throwing them overboard.
 
#4 ·
Blue Whales, about three miles off of Hermosa Beach, a few months ago. A pair of them did a simultaneous flukes-up dive about 100m from me.

A bazillion flying fish desperately trying to get away from a school of tuna. Gliding until the lower lobes of their tails just touched the water, then propelling themselves with only their tails in the water fast enough to glide again.

Just about every plankton tow I've ever done in the coastal waters. The diversity of critters in one 5 minute haul never ceases to amaze me.
 
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#6 · (Edited)
I'm not sure that anything I've seen is truly "strange".

A few things I've seen were a swordfish bill embedded in the anechoic rubber tiles on the side of my submarine, enormous sea turtles in the port of Jeb Al Ali, a phosphorous "wake of fire" from my patrol boat over in Fujairah. I've stood on the "roof" a couple of times. We rolled a pilot whale off of the bow of a submarine once. Didn't seem to hurt him, just disoriented him for a moment.
 
#7 ·
A day so calm in the Caribbean that the smoke trail from the ship lay on the water astern. (Stacks vented through the transom) A rainbow at sunset. Swam with wild dolphins. A whole mess of green bugs flying across LI Sound (16+ miles). Continuous lightning. A tall ship coming out of fog off NY, looking like a ghost. A 210' cutter rolling so far that she dipped her flight deck. Many sharks on a hot day off NJ.
 
#15 ·
We had that once mid-race - coupled with 40+ knot gusts and 50 foot visibility. Lasted about 90 seconds, felt like a long time.

And, I know what you're thinking - NO drugs of any kind were involved...
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Suuuuure....;) ;)

Brightly lit squid fishing fleet in the middle of the night off the Oregon Coast

A lunar eclipse that really had us confused - we didn't know it was due...

Last summer a shooting star/meteorite that left a comet-like trail that lasted several minutes.. the glare was like a searchlight.
 
#9 ·
Green flash a few times, turtle once, best ever was a clear but humid day with good visibility, sun low towards horizon. I thought I saw smoke from a boat on fire, it was a large whale (probably a blue), looking around there were 6-8 groups of great whales visible because of the huge clouds of their blow. They were MILES off in all directions. Lot of Sun fish around here from dinner plate to manhole cover size.
 
#10 ·
All the great stuff I've seen is nothing that all of you haven't seen at least once. However it is the reason that I've always been drawn back to the water since 95 when I gave up working on bulk carriers on the Great Lakes.

If pressed, I'd have to say that riding a 730 up the flight locks in the Welland Canal is pretty cool.
 
#12 ·
Then there was the floating lumberyard that we passed through last spring. Apparently, a lot of wood, 2x4s, 4x4s, 2x8s, etc., washed overboard from a ship and we spent the better part of a day dodging lumber.
 
#14 ·
One June night while on a night sail from Boston to P-Town through a light fog, there were phosphorescent jelly fish everywhere... It was mesmerizing to watch them glow especially bright in our wake.

We were motoring (no wind) and I was at the helm at about 02:00. I noticed a green spark approaching us from dead ahead. At first I thought it was a cinder, blowing in the wind, but it was green. it looked to be about the size of a humming bird, and was the phosphorescent color of the jellyfish. What ever it was, it buzzed through our shrouds, then chased us for about a minute. It would fall away from our stern, then loop and approach us again. It was NOT a firefly, because it was way too big, and it didn't flash, but glowed steadily.

My watch mate and I looked at each other with a "WTF?" expression. We both saw it, and talked about it for a while. We never figured out what it was.

And, I know what you're thinking - NO drugs of any kind were involved...
 
#16 ·
Never crossed our minds... :laugher :laugher
One June night while on a night sail from Boston to P-Town through a light fog, there were phosphorescent jelly fish everywhere... It was mesmerizing to watch them glow especially bright in our wake.

We were motoring (no wind) and I was at the helm at about 02:00. I noticed a green spark approaching us from dead ahead. At first I thought it was a cinder, blowing in the wind, but it was green. it looked to be about the size of a humming bird, and was the phosphorescent color of the jellyfish. What ever it was, it buzzed through our shrouds, then chased us for about a minute. It would fall away from our stern, then loop and approach us again. It was NOT a firefly, because it was way too big, and it didn't flash, but glowed steadily.

My watch mate and I looked at each other with a "WTF?" expression. We both saw it, and talked about it for a while. We never figured out what it was.

And, I know what you're thinking - NO drugs of any kind were involved...
 
#17 ·
Stood right on the north (rotational) pole and watched the sunset. Spirals slowly down, gets bisected by the horizon, then gone. The days don't get shorter up there, just one "day" per year, and one "night." Took a bit for us to realize it was really gone for good since all of our previous experience taught us it would poke up again, Funny how the brain works. Once reality sunk in we set off in a hurry for the trek across the ice to the boat. Flashlights might have been a good idea if we'd thought of them.

There was also a seal on that trip that followed us around like a dog. He/she/it seemed to like listening to the boat with its ear. Then it would pop up and excitedly bark "ahrrt, ahrrt, ahrrt!" We didn't have enough food on that trip so there was talk of eating him. Instead we shared our saltines.

How many submariners are on this forum anyway?
 
#18 ·
A couple of years ago while cruising in Maine I was at the helm on a beautiful, lazy afternoon when a whale, easily the size of my 40 footer, sounded within a boatlength of us. There had been no noted spotting of whales before that so it came as a complete surprise. After I recovered my breath I looked all over but couldn't see any sign of any other whales and didn't see that one sound again. I did, however, have to change my diapers.
 
#20 · (Edited)
I was puzzled by the above post, so I Googled it;

Here is what I found;
[EDIT - WARNING: following the above link generated a "YOU HAVE WON..." window, which I believe is a phishing scheme. Proceed at your own risk. I copied the image to my photobucket account, so that is safe.]
USS BLUEFISH was the 27th STURGEON - class attack submarine. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on May 31, 1996, the USS BLUEFISH is since then berthed at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Wash., awaiting entry in the Navy's Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program Recycling there. The BLUEFISH was last homeported in Norfolk, Va.

General Characteristics: Awarded: July 15, 1966
Keel Laid: March 13, 1968
Launched: January 10, 1970
Commissioned: January 8, 1971
Decommissioned: May 31, 1996
Builder: Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation, Groton, CT.
Propulsion system: one S5W2 nuclear reactor
Propellers: one
Length: 292 feet (89 meters)
Beam: 31.7 feet (9.65 meters)
Draft: 29.2 feet (8.9 meters)
Displacement: Surfaced: approx. 4,250 tons
Submerged: approx. 4,700 tons
Speed: Surfaced: approx. 15 knots
Submerged: approx. 30 knots
Armament: four 533 mm torpedo tubes for Mk-48 torpedoes, Harpoon, Tomahawk, and SUBROC missiles, ability to lay mines
Crew: 12 Officers, 95 Enlisted
I would still like to know the circumstances, but at least I know what the post refers to.
 
#22 ·
Saw one submarine off the coast of New Foundland Canada.
It wasn't Canadain or USN. from the shape of the sail I would say it was USSR.
Also saw a ship going southbound in that area also. It was the Soviet Missile Tracking Ship. All of it's tracking antennas were in the Tea Cup position.
Both these times were in the mid eighties... I was on a Cable Layer at that time.
 
#23 ·
A rogue wave in the Patapsco River outside of Baltimore.

My nephew and I were coming out of Rock Creek in the afternoon. We were a ways past the White Rocks, and looking behind us we observed what was easily a four-foot swell approaching us from the SE -- directly from the south shore of the river. There were no boats over that way at all, and nothing big had passed through the channel either, so we wrote off it being a wake or a reflection of a wake.

The average wave height at the time was less than one foot, so this qualified as a "rogue." It was a little nerve-wracking watching it come up on us, as it was quite a bit higher than our transom, and it was rather steep-to. The stern rose to it and we pitched a bit as it passed under us. We watched it for a while and then about a quarter-mile away it just collapsed and disappeared.

Very strange.
 
#30 ·
A rogue wave in the Patapsco River outside of Baltimore.

My nephew and I were coming out of Rock Creek in the afternoon. We were a ways past the White Rocks, and looking behind us we observed what was easily a four-foot swell approaching us from the SE -- directly from the south shore of the river. There were no boats over that way at all, and nothing big had passed through the channel either, so we wrote off it being a wake or a reflection of a wake.

The average wave height at the time was less than one foot, so this qualified as a "rogue." It was a little nerve-wracking watching it come up on us, as it was quite a bit higher than our transom, and it was rather steep-to. The stern rose to it and we pitched a bit as it passed under us. We watched it for a while and then about a quarter-mile away it just collapsed and disappeared.

Very strange.
Any chance it was a mini-tsunami from all the recent quakes around?
 
#24 ·
My wife and I saw a large freighter in the Strait of Juan de Fuca turn upside down. We saw the house disappear and then nothing but red bottom paint could be seen for a couple of minutes. As we were trying to figure out what you do when something like this happens (we were on the beach, no VHF), the house reappeared and it continued on it's way. It was a mirage, but had us shook up for awhile.

We've had several groups of Orcas swim right under our boat, they cut it awfully close (they look like they are barely under the surface) and I always involuntarily brace myself for one of them hitting the keel. Hasn't happened...yet.

We had a deer swim right by our anchored boat one evening just before sunset. At first I thought it was a tree branch (antlers), but they don't usually leave a wake.

I saw a huge deadhead log ahead while motoring one rainy day, I turned to pass it and when we were within about 50' it frantically dove. Elephant seal, only one I've ever seen.

We had between 2-300 porpoises circle our boat (no other boats around) for about an hour with too many to count jumping and spinning all around us. Then they all took off like a shot as fast as they could swim in a perfectly straight line away from us and kept going until we couldn't see them anymore with the binocs. This was up near Desolation Sound.
 
#26 ·
November 2009 in the Strait of Georgia, near Tsawassen, we were chased at about 4 knots by a large, dark brown Steller sea lion. He would poke his head up in our wake, sometimes two boat lengths away, and watch us. You could see his black eyes, whiskers, ears. When we got far enough away, he would sort of roll over on his back like a fighter jet and dive. Each time we'd be sure he was no longer interested in us, and he'd resurface in our wake, even closer than before.

October 2010, same spot, same (I like to believe) sea lion, same chase.
 
#27 · (Edited)
John - you reminded of the deer I saw in the middle of Johnstone Strait last June.

 
#28 ·
Sailing down the Washington coast to the Columbia river at night it was overcast and very, very dark. With a light wind on the stern and the drifter pulling us along at about 3 - 4 knots, it was nice and quite too. My wife was on watch and sitting in the cockpit when she heard "chirping" beside the boat. Looking over the side she could not actually see the dolphins (or porpoise or whatever they where from that general genre) but when they swam up and down past the boat you could see the torpedo shaped outlines from the phosphorescence in the water, then you would see then come up and see a splash of phosphorescence on the surface and then hear them chirp and then see their shapes as they dove again, but we could not actually see them at all, even when they where poking their heads up just feet away and chattering at us.

Another time we where staying a Joemma Beach State Park in the Puget Sound at the dock when the phosphorescence where really active. We went up onto the pier at night and threw rocks off into the water. I was expecting a neat phosphorescent splash, but instead was treated to a sight of probably 50 fish in a 100 foot circle around the rock doing a spiral dive and leaving a bright cork screw trail as they went. It was so amazing we kept having to go get more rocks and wait for the fish to come back and then do it again.
 
#29 ·
Just saw a sun column. Not a simple sun beam, but a well-defined orange cylindrical tube of sunlight extending from the horizon (minutes before the sun broke the horizon) up to the black sky well overhead.

Has to do with the sunlight hitting the atmosphere tangentially, and ice crystals in the upper atmosphere collating the rays into a "tube".

I hear its not that rare, if you know what to look for. This one was unusually vivid.

Cool Thread--thanks!
 
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