Latest news with #fishingboats
Times
4 days ago
- Times
12 of the world's best bioluminescent beaches
Bioluminescence might have a tidy scientific explanation — think trillions of light-emitting plankton reacting to movement — but no biology lesson can prepare you for the real-life spectacle of the 'underwater northern lights'. Wade into Mosquito Bay on Puerto Rico's Vieques island and watch in wonder as your fingers leave ethereal, glowing blue trails in their wake. Paddle Vietnam's Ha Long Bay at midnight to witness the Gulf of Tonkin perform a glittering dance as your kayak slices through the stillness. In Japan's Toyama Bay, it's firefly squid that steal the show, rising from deep canyons each spring to transform fishing boats into floating electric-blue constellations. Even the Jersey Shore — just an hour south of New York City — has its moment: in summer, Manasquan Beach glows blue by night, red by day. Yes, a new moon, dark skies and minimal light pollution help, but anyone who's experienced this phenomenon will surely harbour a suspicion that magic also plays its part. From Tasmania to Thailand, these are the world's best bioluminescent beaches. This article contains affiliate links that will earn us revenue Sprinkled across the East China Sea, this group of islands is named after a statue of Mazu, the Taoism goddess of the sea, on the main island of Nangan. Each year, their rocky shorelines begin to glow from May, and there's a chance to spot the phenomenon until September. Travellers can witness the spectacle, romantically referred to as 'blue tears' by locals, around a few of the islands. There are no guarantees of seeing the blue tears in the wild but Nangan is home to the Matsu Blue Tears Ecological Museum, where algae is cultivated and you can see the phenomenon in a lab-like environment. Accommodation in the Matsu islands tends to be quite basic, but home stays can offer a good way to experience the off the beaten track destination. Try Matsu Seaside View Homestay on Nangan, which is close to one of the beaches where blue tears appear. Set your compass for magic on the tropical paradise that is Havelock Island. Officially known as Swaraj Dweep, and one of the largest of India's Andaman Islands, it's accessible via a short hop by ferry or seaplane from capital Port Blair. While days are best spent exploring the island's wildlife-rich rainforests, after dark, it's the mangrove forests that dazzle — particularly around the new moon phase from November to January, when weather and water conditions are optimal for a bioluminescent extravaganza. Join a night kayaking tour from Havelock Jetty to explore the mangrove-lined waters in which plankton thrive, witnessing the glowing waters — and some of the island's best beaches, including Elephant, Radhanagar, Beach No. 5 and Kalapathar — up close. For luxury with exceptional service, book a stay at the Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Andamans. The balmy summer and autumn months are your best bet for catching a bioluminescent display on the enchanting Caribbean 'Spice Isle' of Grenada, where — when conditions are right — coastlines literally light up with life. Luminous nightly shows come courtesy of the marine algae noctiluca scintillans, which glows an atypical bold amber-orange — a reaction to organic matter in the tides. Locals often liken the drifting spots to embers dancing across the waves, with the spectacle having been seen in recent years from beaches including La Sagesse and Grand Anse. Spice Island Beach Resort is one of Grenada's best hotels and has a prime location right on Grand Anse beach. Hidden on the southern coast of Vieques, off the east coast of mainland Puerto Rico, this narrow inlet widens into a dolphin-shaped bay of mangroves that protects the brightest occurrence of bioluminescence in the world according to Guinness World Records. Mosquito Bay is thick with diamond-bright dinoflagellates that shimmer come nightfall. To protect the delicate ecosystem, no swimming is allowed. You can arrange a boat tour, but we recommend booking a glass-bottom kayak tour for an otherworldly immersion. The nearest town to Mosquito Bay is Esperanza, where Puertas at El Quenepo offers a characterful stay on the seafront. Nicknamed the 'Sea of Stars' island, Vaadhoo sits in Raa Atoll in the Maldives and is home to fewer than 500 people. Visit during the dry season, between December and March, to improve your chances of a sighting. Come nightfall, head to the uninhabited northern tip of the islet to stroll barefoot amid the stars and trace messages in shining letters in the sand. Experience the bioluminescence during a stay at Vaadhoo View Inn, a homestay close to the Sea of Stars beach. • Best all-inclusive hotels in the Maldives• Best family hotels in the Maldives The months of March to May mark hotaru-ika (firefly squid) season in Toyama Bay. Situated on the west coast of Japan, a couple of hundred miles northwest of Tokyo, this deep v-shaped canyon fills with mass gatherings of the three-inch-long squid. During the day, these cephalopods live at great depths, but each evening they ascend to the surface to mate and the photophores at the end of their tentacles light up. Sightseeing boats depart at 3am from the fishing port of Namerikawa for a two-hour tour to the spawning grounds where you can watch fishers (the squid are a delicacy) haul up an illuminated catch that turns their boats into turquoise beacons. The 13-day Cycle Japan tour from Explore! includes an overnight stay in Toyama Bay with a chance to sample the local seafood — keep your fingers crossed to see those firefly squid while you're there. • Best hotels in Tokyo• Unmissable Japan adventures This unassuming tree-fringed shallow-water beach on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, 26 miles north of Auckland on New Zealand's North Island, is usually frequented by families visiting for a safe paddle. Matakatia is a quiet suburb punctuated with pockets of nature reserve and home to just over 2,000 people — and when the tides are right, 'blue gold' can be seen. Locals report algae blooms are strongest when heavy rain is followed by a hot evening, with peaks occurring two hours either side of high tide. Tindalls beach, just a little further north, is also a good spot. Consider visiting this remote spot on a self-drive holiday. Travelbag has several options including a 21-day Ultimate New Zealand Campervan Adventure. • Best New Zealand itineraries Warming seas brought bioluminescence to Tasmania in the early 1990s. For the best sea sparkle make a beeline for Coles Bay — incidentally, the first town in the world to ban plastic shopping bags — which sits inside Freycinet National Park, a three-hour drive from Hobart. Its knuckles of greened granite mountains punch into azure bays and the lack of light pollution makes phytoplankton easy to spot. Start your search at Honeymoon Bay or the oh-so-photogenic perfect smile of white sand at Wineglass Bay. The seven-day Tasting Tasmania & Flinders Island tour from AAT Kings is a small-group adventure that includes a two-night stay in Coles Bay. • Best Australian experiences Known for its limestone pinnacles jutting from the emerald Gulf of Tonkin, Unesco-listed Ha Long Bay in northeast Vietnam is a popular tourist destination and a bit of a gamble due to a rise in sediment. You'll need to book a reputable overnight boat tour, as they know the safe paddling spots. Most tours include squid fishing and shine lights on the water. You'll usually need to wait until midnight for these to be switched off. Then you can swim and swish your arms to see bioluminescent algae sparkle. The 14-day Vietnam & the Reunification Express tour from Wendy Wu includes a two nights cruising in Halong Bay, and will take you from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City as part of the itinerary. • Best hotels in Vietnam Selected as a filming location for Survivor, this tropical island, a 40-minute ferry ride from Sihanoukville on the Cambodian mainland has developed only 15 per cent of its land, so there's very little light pollution if you avoid the main tourist area of Koh Touch. On moonless evenings, head around the corner to the sugar-sand Long Set Beach for a sparkly swim, or book one of the boat tours advertised on the beach. The 14-day Ultimate Cambodian Adventure from G Adventures visits Phnom Penh, Battambang, Siem Reap, Kratié, Kampong Cham, Kampot, Kep, as well as Koh Rong. Unbelievably, just an hour south of New York City, this strip of sand, which is one of the most popular Jersey Shore beaches, experiences algal blooms between July and September. During the day, the dinoflagellates mass together until the water turns red and creates a red tide, but at night they appear as electric blue waves. If you turn up at sunset, you'll be able to experience both. A 20-minute drive north, Asbury Ocean Club Hotel is one of the nicest places to stay on this stretch of coast. • Best value hotels in New York On the east coast of Bali, an hour from the capital of Denpasar, Padangbai is the main departure point for ferries to the neighbouring island of Lombok and one of the island's busiest ports. It's the last place you'd expect to see bioluminescence. But join a night dive and they'll take you beneath the waves and encourage you to turn off your torch and kick your fins to discover an Avatar-esque world of blue. The beachfront OK Divers Resort & Spa is the perfect base — it's Padi-certified and suitable for new and experienced divers. • Best hotels in Bali Additional reporting by Julie Alpine and Qin Xie
The Independent
21-07-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Vietnam races to prepare for Typhoon Wipha as Philippines suffers storm deaths
Vietnam braced for Typhoon Wipha on Monday as coastal provinces were placed on emergency alert and airlines canceled flights ahead of the storm's expected landfall early Tuesday. The typhoon is forecast to bring powerful winds and heavy rainfall, raising the risk of flash floods and landslides in northern Vietnam's mountainous areas and flooding in urban centers, including Hanoi. 'This is a very strong storm, moving fast, with a wide and dangerous impact on both land and sea,' Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said in a directive to government agencies. He ordered all fishing boats, cargo ships and tourist vessels to return to shore and urged the evacuation of people in high-risk areas. The storm has already proved deadly in the Philippines, where it intensified monsoon rains and killed at least three people over the weekend, including one who drowned and two others struck by falling trees. Philippine officials were checking reports of three more deaths, while seven people, including two children, remained missing. Floods, landslides and debris affected over 800,000 people, with about 90,000 forced to evacuate, authorities said. Hundreds of cruise ships have anchored in Vietnam's Ha Long Bay after authorities suspended all tourist boat services due to the storm. A tourist boat capsized there during a thunderstorm over the weekend, ahead of the typhoon's arrival, killing at least 37 people. Ongoing bad weather is expected to complicate the search for the missing. National carrier Vietnam Airlines and its affiliate Pacific Airlines canceled at least nine domestic flights on Monday, with more delays expected. Budget airline Vietjet canceled 12 flights including international routes to South Korea. Local authorities have deployed rescue crews and stocked food and medical supplies while working to secure telecommunications infrastructure. State media reported nearly 150,000 hectares (370,658 acres) of aquaculture farms and more than 20,000 floating fish cages could be at risk from flooding and high winds. Emergency warnings have been sent to millions of residents by text message. Forecasters expect Wipha to make landfall between Hai Phong and Thanh Hoa provinces early Tuesday, with wind gusts reaching up to 166 kilometers (103 miles) per hour. Vietnam is no stranger to tropical storms. But climate experts said such storms were getting stronger due to global warming since warmer ocean waters provide more energy to fuel the storms. This results in increased wind speeds and heavier rainfall. Last year, Typhoon Yagi killed about 300 people and caused $3.3 billion in damage, reducing GDP growth by 0.15%. ___ Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report. ___ Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receive support from several private foundations. See more about AP's climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Arab News
20-06-2025
- Arab News
Greek coast guard says over 600 migrants rescued from 2 fishing boats
The first fishing boat, carrying 352 people, was spotted overnight about 55 kilometers south of the tiny island of GavdosThe second was found 90 kilometers south of the island of Crete with 278 people on boardATHENS: More than 600 migrants were rescued overnight and early Friday from two wooden fishing boats found sailing miles (kilometers) from the southernmost part of Greece, the country's coast guard first fishing boat, carrying 352 people, was spotted overnight about 30 nautical miles (35 miles, 55 kilometers) south of the tiny island of Gavdos, the coast guard said. Passengers were rescued by a ship from the European border patrol agency FRONTEX, aided by a coast guard patrol boat and four other second was found 50 nautical miles (about 60 miles, 90 kilometers) south of the island of Crete with 278 people on board. The passengers were picked up by a passing Portuguese-flagged cargo ship. In both cases, the migrants were transported to was no immediate information on the nationalities of those on board the two fishing two boats carrying migrants were located in the same area on Thursday, the coast guard said. One, carrying 73 men, was found south of Gavdos and another with 26 people, including one woman and three minors, was found near the coast of southern coast guard said those on the smaller boat told authorities they had set sail the previous evening from Tobruk in Libya, and had each paid smugglers either 4,000 euros ($5,500) for their passage to Greece. Two Sudanese teenagers, one aged 16 and the other 19, were arrested on suspicion of migrant smuggling after other passengers identified them as having been operating the has been on one of the preferred routes into the European Union for people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia for decades. Arrivals from neighboring Turkiye to the east and the Libyan coast to the south spiked last year, with Greece recording more than 60,000 people arriving — the vast majority by sea — in 2024, compared to just over 48,000 the previous year, according to figures from the UN refugee agency. As of June 15 this year, a total of 16,290 arrivals were recorded, with more than 14,600 of those by authorities closely patrolling the eastern sea border with Turkiye to prevent migrant boats reaching nearby Greek islands, smugglers appear to be increasingly opting for the much longer and riskier Mediterranean Sea crossing from the north African coast to the southern tip of Greece, using larger boats into which they can cram more people.
Associated Press
13-06-2025
- Climate
- Associated Press
A severe tropical storm heads for southern China after toppling trees on Hainan island
BEIJING (AP) — Authorities evacuated thousands of people, closed schools and canceled flights Friday as a severe tropical storm dumped heavy rain on parts of China's Hainan island and headed for the country's southern coast. Photos posted by a Chinese news outlet showed toppled trees and a strewn corrugated metal fence at a construction site in the city of Sanya, a popular beach resort on Hainan. All schools, construction sites and tourist attractions in Sanya were closed and flights were suspended at the city's airport, the official Xinhua News Agency said. A dozen crew members were rescued Thursday night from a cargo ship that called for help, Xinhua said. The crew were transferred to a rescue vessel in rough seas with 3-meter (10-foot) waves. Tropical Storm Wutip had maximum sustained winds of 108 kilometers (67 miles) per hour as it headed northwest off Hainan's west coast. It was forecast to turn northeast and make landfall around noon Saturday on the Chinese mainland near the border between Guangdong province and the Guangxi region. Guangdong activated rescue boats and helicopters and more than 49,000 fishing boats returned to port, Xinhua said. The provincial meteorological agency forecast heavy rain and said tornadoes were possible. Wutip means 'butterfly' in Cantonese, which is spoken in Macao. Countries and the Chinese regions of Hong Kong and Macao contribute the names for storms during the typhoon season.
