Red Tide

What we’ve been seeing for the last several weeks or so is a harmless, non-toxic plankton bloom, and it usually happens right around now, when everything starts to heat up from the sunshine and rising temperatures. It's just that right now it is unbelievably red and everywhere - even in the Vancouver harbour! I took this shot from the boat last week just off of Millers Landing.

The ocean is full of plankton and yet folks still swim in it. Most of the time it’s barely visible but when the conditions are just right, it all gets forced up to the surface, where we can see it and get the creeps. Truly, this year it is like a blood bath. I might add it is not good for bi-valves, so you can't harvest and eat oysters, muscles or clams during a red tide,