Waiting for the blue waves: zoology students and teacher continue vigil in Mumbai

Even though these rare waves have not been spotted again after February 2016, the vigil for the next sighting continues.

The water illuminated by phytoplankton off the Mumbai coast. Express

It has been two years since blue waves were last spotted at Juhu Beach. The excitement of the discovery had sent hundreds of people thronging to the water post-sunset. Even though these rare waves have not been spotted again after February 2016, the vigil for the next sighting continues.

Sayli Bhalekar, a zoology graduate from Bhavan’s College in Andheri West and a resident of Juhu Koliwada is best placed to make the discovery now, as she was in November 2015. “I was walking on the beach with friends at night when we spotted bluish green waves near the shore,” she recalls. Bhalekar immediately called up a friend, who alerted Parvish Pandya, the college’s Vice Principal and an Associate Professor of Zoology.

Though popularly called blue waves, the rare natural phenomena is referred to as bio-luminescence. Phytoplankton, tiny organisms, which float in the ocean are a vital food source for larger marine life, undergo a chemical reaction termed bio-luminescence in which certain chemicals mix. A vibration caused due to the reaction excites other particles, causing the organism to emit light.

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After Pandya wrote about the phenomenon on his Facebook page, it caused an avalanche of visitors rushing to Juhu Beach. “Hundreds of thousands of people went to the beach to watch the blue waves. They stood on the jetty on the Santa Cruz side to take pictures. Police were cooperative in letting people go to the beach late at night,” says Pandya.
He added that the sightings also sparked interest from institutions from abroad, who were keen for more information about the phenomenon — a first for Mumbai. “Previously, bio-luminescence had been observed in Ratnagiri but never in Mumbai until then. For a city like Mumbai with all the pollution, it was the first time,” he says.
Pandya adds that although there is no way to predict a sighting or a pattern to be followed, the days immediately before and after a new moon form ideal conditions. “Common sense says that it is very dark at that time, making the waves easier to spot,” he says.

“A lot of locals at Juhu Koliwada appear to have experienced the phenomenon before 2015. They say that children have collected the water in bottles. It has just not come to attention beyond Juhu Beach before 2015,” he says.
Bhalekar has been continuing her walks on the beach to get another glimpse of the glowing waves. “I stay right across from the beach but cannot spot blue waves from my balcony. So, I go down to the beach in the evenings to keep watch,” she says.