From what I hear swimming is supposed to give you a healthy glow, but these swimmers weren’t quite sure what was going on when they took a late-night dip and turned a fluorescent shade of blue. ‘It was like we were playing with radioactive paint,’ said photographer Phil Hart who snapped the bizarre sight as his friends emerged from a lake in the dark of night. The light is created by a chemical reaction called bioluminescence, which happens when a naturally-occuring micro-organism in the water is disturbed.
It’s believed that the combination of bushfires and floods created the high levels of nutrients in the lakes for the organisms to feed. ‘It may not happen again in my lifetime,’ said Phil. ‘I feel fortunate to have been there to see it and to have had my camera gear there to record it.’ Phil, from Melbourne, added: ‘While the luminescence was obvious to the eye, the bright blue colour is only apparent in photos.’ When the first photo that was taken appeared on screen I could hardly believe how freakish the whole thing looked.
