Glow Worm Tour

Glow Worm time was once more upon us.  As you may recall from previous posts, the glow worms put on a fantastical magical display of sexiness about twice a month, 2 and 3 days after the full moon between May and October, 56 minutes after sunset.  Yes.  Only at that precise time.  If you are a few minutes late, no worm party for you.

For those of you new to the conversation I will do a quick recap.  These are sea worms, called Odontodyllis enopia.  At this precise time, with no lunar sensor or satellite confirmed clocks, they show up without fail to mate at the sea surface.  The female worm swims to the top and releases a bioluminescent film of neon gametes, which attracts the males who come charging to the top emitting pulses of bright green light, ready to fertilize the eggs.   They swim in a circles for a brief few seconds, and quietly disappear below the ocean again.  Usually this is over pretty quickly, but apparently if the male hasn't found a female, he can emit up 330 pulses over a 12 minute period to try to attract her.  So in the dark sea you will see a neon green worm-sex display if you find the right spot at the right time.

In the past I have gone to various docks, and seen a few of these successful rituals here and there, but I was looking for the worm mother load on my last full moon, so decided to try the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute Glow Worm Tour.  They offered this picture in their brochure, and I wondered if maybe there was a special cave in Bermuda that I did not know about that harboured some sexy glowing worms on their slick rocks.  I was sold, and as usual, managed to get the last ticket!

This is bioluminescence....but....glow worms don't live on rocks....but I had to go just in case

I boarded the cruise at 8:15 pm, and the $40 for members paid for itself in the first few minutes -- it is always breathtaking to be out on the still waters of Bermuda at sunset.

This would be similar to the view from the patio of the Harbourfront if you were dining there at sunset, since that is where we boarded

I admit I thought my friend Phil who loves taking pictures of reflections in the water would have loved this cruise

I was probably the only person who arrived without a friend, also as usual, but one of the guides sat on the edge of the boat and chatted away with me.  An older gentleman who had spent most of his life in Bermuda, he was happy to tell tales when asked, and I got some great stories about the fish and fauna he had encountered through his years fishing around Bermuda.  He also explained that all of the massive boats in town were here for the annual Marlin Fishing Tournament.  It was just the other week the sailboats raced in from Newport -- these boats are a totally different breed!  All very pricey though, both types.

Someone said these are in the 8 Million dollar range each

He was also kind enough to grab me a wine since neither the poster, the email or phone calls I placed inquiring about the cruise, or the information I got when I went in to reserve a space mentioned there would be a cash bar on board.

cruising off into the sunset

the cruise ships out at dockyard

We got to the worm location early, which was good.  I kind of figured out on the way that there would be no cave, which makes sense since they are sea worms, but....I would be happy with bioluminescent cave bats at this point.  I could see we were actually down by some one's dock.  This doesn't bode well for worm watching, as they like to stay close to the rocks for the most part, so in the boat we would be further away than if we had been on land.  I had also figured out earlier in the cruise that I had been worm questing longer than the guides and I while they knew the facts, they didn't have any worm secrets or hidey holes to reveal that evening -- in fact, I googled Bermuda glow worms today and one of the things that comes up is me.  Well, the old blog post.  Seem there isn't a lot of information on worm sex out there, and I may accidentally be becoming the unofficial guru of glow worm reproduction in Bermuda.  This isn't quite how I had hoped to sum up my years on the island, but it is what it is.

Night falls, we wait for worms

Worm watching by moonlight...not the strangest thing I have done...must be close though

Needless to say, I did not get a worm picture.  I managed to spot several, but they were small flashes a boat's distance away.  This is kind of what I expected, and I still think $40 was a heck of a deal for a sunset cruise under a fantastic moon.  I did feel a little bad for some of the other passengers, who were expecting an aquatic Fourth of July display, particularly when teenagers walked down onto the dock and squealed with delight at the worms flashing and dancing inches below their feet.  I, however, thought it was a spectacular way to spend an evening, money well spent, as I know how much it costs to charter a boat for sunset.
I felt a little bad for the worms, the small numbers worries me, their population must be declining like so many other species.

This old picture from summer of 2012 remains my best Glow Worm shot

The worms would get one more chance the following night.  I hope more worms came, they obviously need a few more numbers.  But that was my last chance.  I am sorry that I didn't get a picture for my collection, but some things will just have to live in my memories of Bermuda.

Returning to Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute