I'm not crazy but . . .

[bitsey66]

Ghosts! :D:p:eek:

[seashinesunshine]

I have actually heard of this in many forms before, on water, land and in houses. Lightning balls. Static electricity etc. They do seem to dance together get close to each other then drift apart . That must have been cool to see.

[seashinesunshine]

Mu husband just corrected me, I'm supposed to call it "Ball Lightning" :)

[mitsugirly]

I have to say I have seen something like this before, but not quite. We were in the Caribbean sailing and late one night we were up on the pool deck and star gazing and looking out at the water. What we seen was a greenish glowing something or other. There were several of them and they moved back and forth, held still, would move out, then back toward the ship and up and down. My first thought was flying fish (since we have witnessed them before, that's what it reminded me of...but I had never heard of them glowing before). What we seen were oblong shaped (like a fish) instead of a tennis ball shape. Although it seemed like they came out of the water some, it was never up higher than the ship (I'm guessing maybe 3 feet at the most).

 

My husband and I watched it for awhile and never did figure out what it was. It was on the same side as the moon, so you could tell it wasn't the wake/water. The color of it reminded me of the glow sticks you buy around the 4th of July where you bend them to crack them and make them glow. It was the same color as that. :confused: I never seen anything like that again the rest of the cruise (or on any other cruise).

[litebender]

Mu husband just corrected me, I'm supposed to call it "Ball Lightning" :)

 

At first I dismissed that idea, but after reading more about ball lightning I began to become intrigued.

From Wikipedia:

A review of the available literature published in 1972[37] identified the properties of a “typical” ball lightning, whilst cautioning against over-reliance on eye-witness accounts:

 

• They frequently appear almost simultaneously with cloud-to-ground lightning discharge
  
• They are generally spherical or pear-shaped with fuzzy edges
  
• Their diameters range from 1–100 cm, most commonly 10–20 cm
  
• Their brightness corresponds to roughly that of a domestic lamp, so they can be seen clearly in daylight
  
• A wide range of colours has been observed, red, orange and yellow being the most common.
  
• The lifetime of each event is from 1 second to over a minute with the brightness remaining fairly constant during that time
  
• They tend to move, most often in a horizontal direction at a few metres per second, but may also move vertically, remain stationary or wander erratically.
  
• Many are described as having rotational motion
  
• It is rare that observers report the sensation of heat, although in some cases the disappearance of the ball is accompanied by the liberation of heat
  
• Some display an affinity for metal objects and may move along conductors such as wires or metal fences
  
• Some appear within buildings passing through closed doors and windows
  
• Some have appeared within metal aircraft and have entered and left without causing damage
  
• The disappearance of a ball is generally rapid and may be either silent or explosive
  
• Odors resembling ozone, burning sulfur, or nitrogen oxides are often reported
  

 

I highlighted the descriptions that matched our observations.

I thought ball lightning only occurred during thunderstorms, but apparently that is not the case. Again from Wikipedia:

Its appearance has also been linked to power lines[34] as well as during thunderstorms and also calm weather.

 

There are so many reported variations that it is difficult to rule this out. We had passed through storms earlier but that night was quiet and cloudy.

 

Anyone else experience ball lightning? (hold the locker room jokes:D)

[litebender]

I have to say I have seen something like this before, but not quite. We were in the Caribbean sailing and late one night we were up on the pool deck and star gazing and looking out at the water. What we seen was a greenish glowing something or other. There were several of them and they moved back and forth, held still, would move out, then back toward the ship and up and down. My first thought was flying fish (since we have witnessed them before, that's what it reminded me of...but I had never heard of them glowing before). What we seen were oblong shaped (like a fish) instead of a tennis ball shape. Although it seemed like they came out of the water some, it was never up higher than the ship (I'm guessing maybe 3 feet at the most).

 

My husband and I watched it for awhile and never did figure out what it was. It was on the same side as the moon, so you could tell it wasn't the wake/water. The color of it reminded me of the glow sticks you buy around the 4th of July where you bend them to crack them and make them glow. It was the same color as that. :confused: I never seen anything like that again the rest of the cruise (or on any other cruise).

 

Mitsu, that sounds like some type of bioluminescent fish or algae. Our captain mentioned algae as an example of a glowing phenomenon, but of course that would not rise out of the water and dance around.

[aquilegia]

Flying fish usually usually glide in a pretty level flight. I don't think they would go up and down in the way the OP described.

[mikishel]

While sailing on the Norwegian Gem last saturday night, I witnessed a strange and unexplained sight off the starboard side.

 

My wife woke me up sometime around one or two o'clock and said " quick! come out on the balcony - I see the weirdest thing! Floating above the waves were balls of light, about the size of tennis balls. They were moving with the ship as birds do, rising up and dancing around before drifting out of sight.

 

At any one time there were from one to about a dozen of these objects. They seemed to rise up from the water surface and fly upward to just above the ship. My wife called them "glow birds", they reminded me of Tinkerbell. At no time did we see any evidence of wings or recognizable shape, even when the glowing spheres passed in front of the white smoke drifting up from the ship's smokestack.

 

No, we weren't drunk or under the influence! We watched the show for about 20 minutes then went back to bed. That evening the ship had left St. Thomas and was en route to Samana, Dominican Republic. So at that time I believe we were sailing between Puerto Rico and Samana.

 

Anyone have a similar experience?

 

P.S. At a meeting with the cruise staff my wife mentioned this to the captain who had no explanation. He probably thought we were nuts!

 

Two years ago we saw this same thing from our balcony one night on a transatlantic cruise! We had just left our last port that day and were heading out to sea for the crossing, but we could still see faint light from land in the far distance.

 

The "lights" flew like birds, but we couldn't really see any defined bodies. Very strange. I wondered if someone had very powerful laser lights pointing at us, but the the light never shown directly on the ship; they flew alongside the ship instead. They would disappear high above the smoke stack.

 

We watched for a good 20 minutes and finally went back in. Never saw them again, but I looked for them every night. Now I feel validated! We are not the only ones to experience this.

 

 

 

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[iheartbda]

What a very cool, interesting and rare thing to see. So, at the moment unless someone else comes along with another explanation, it was ball lightening?

[mitsugirly]

Mitsu, that sounds like some type of bioluminescent fish or algae. Our captain mentioned algae as an example of a glowing phenomenon, but of course that would not rise out of the water and dance around.

 

I just wrote it off to some type of fish since that was kind of the shape of them (oblong). I never thought to ask anyone about it. It was just really weird to see the "glow" in the water like that. But they did come up out of the water, which is why I thought they were some type of flying fish.

[litebender]

Two years ago we saw this same thing from our balcony one night on a transatlantic cruise! We had just left our last port that day and were heading out to sea for the crossing, but we could still see faint light from land in the far distance.

 

The "lights" flew like birds, but we couldn't really see any defined bodies. Very strange. I wondered if someone had very powerful laser lights pointing at us, but the the light never shown directly on the ship; they flew alongside the ship instead. They would disappear high above the smoke stack.

 

We watched for a good 20 minutes and finally went back in. Never saw them again, but I looked for them every night. Now I feel validated! We are not the only ones to experience this.

 

 

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

 

 

Mikishel,

 

This sounds very similar to what we saw. Where was your location at the time - you mentioned you had just left port.

 

Ironically, on my first day back to work I was talking to an associate about my experience, and he said he had witnessed something very similar in the western caribbean a couple of years ago. However, he thought he could make out the shape of wings. We looked hard for any hint of wings or discernable shape, but saw neither.

 

As you mentioned, our lights would also fly up above the ship and disappear from sight.

 

Let's keep this going. Hopefully more accounts of similar sightings will reported, and perhaps an explanation that is consistent with our observations will be found.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[litebender]

Another report of strange lights seen from a cruise ship, IN THE SAME VICINITY as my experience. The difference is the objects I saw were not moving in any formation, but rather floated or hovered lazily most of the time.

 

This is from the same website referred to by Emilysmom:

http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/007/S07911.html

[mikishel]

Mikishel,

 

This sounds very similar to what we saw. Where was your location at the time - you mentioned you had just left port.

 

Ironically, on my first day back to work I was talking to an associate about my experience, and he said he had witnessed something very similar in the western caribbean a couple of years ago. However, he thought he could make out the shape of wings. We looked hard for any hint of wings or discernable shape, but saw neither.

 

As you mentioned, our lights would also fly up above the ship and disappear from sight.

 

Let's keep this going. Hopefully more accounts of similar sightings will reported, and perhaps an explanation that is consistent with our observations will be found.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

I believe we were off the coast of Canary Islands, so we were beginning out southern crossing. I saw what appeared to be rapidly flapping wings also, but I didn't see a bird body. That's why I wasn't sure if they were actually lights or birds. We will be doing another transatlantic in a few weeks, and we will be on the lookout for these "light birds."

 

At an event the next day, I asked one of the officers about this phenomenon. He directed me to another officer who turned out to be a UFO enthusiast. He didn't know what it was but said he believed in UFOs. I believe they were UFOs in the strictest sense of the word. They were flying objects in which I could not identify. I'm sure there is a logical explanation for all of this.

 

I've always wanted to see the northern lights, the aurora borealis, so I guess this is the next best thing.

 

 

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[ookpik]

Tinkerbelle has wings.:)

[walkietalkiegg]

I'm on royal Caribbean liberty of the seas right now and just saw the same! We are very near Roatan. I've seen flying fish but these do not behave the same. In dying to know what they are and glad I'm not the only one to have seen them!

[ilikeanswers]

For centuries sailors reported seeing "glowing waters". All these reports were dismmised as the sailors having a little too much to drink or going a little gaga. Roll on into the 21st century we have satalites photographing the Earth and guess what gets snapped? Glowing patches of ocean😂. A few more years of research and they figured the cause: Noctiluca scintillans a bioluminescent diatom. Normally they do not glow so no one realised they were bioluminescent in the first place but for so some reason (the scientists are still trying to figure out the why) they just start glowing as a group. While they happen spontanously around the world there are some guaranteed spots like around Puerto Rico where is happens quite regularly.

 

Now I know this doesn't explain your phenomenon (they look more like a glowing blanket than individual balls) but it does illustrate we know very little about our oceans and that there is still alot of phenomena that are yet to be identified or understood. If you do see stuff like this do try and photograph or video it as marine scientists do check online sites for this data👍.

[DarrenM]

On 11/7/2013 at 4:53 PM, litebender said:

While sailing on the Norwegian Gem last saturday night, I witnessed a strange and unexplained sight off the starboard side.

 

My wife woke me up sometime around one or two o'clock and said " quick! come out on the balcony - I see the weirdest thing! Floating above the waves were balls of light, about the size of tennis balls. They were moving with the ship as birds do, rising up and dancing around before drifting out of sight.

 

At any one time there were from one to about a dozen of these objects. They seemed to rise up from the water surface and fly upward to just above the ship. My wife called them "glow birds", they reminded me of Tinkerbell. At no time did we see any evidence of wings or recognizable shape, even when the glowing spheres passed in front of the white smoke drifting up from the ship's smokestack.

 

No, we weren't drunk or under the influence! We watched the show for about 20 minutes then went back to bed. That evening the ship had left St. Thomas and was en route to Samana, Dominican Republic. So at that time I believe we were sailing between Puerto Rico and Samana.

 

Anyone have a similar experience?

 

P.S. At a meeting with the cruise staff my wife mentioned this to the captain who had no explanation. He probably thought we were nuts!

Were mushrooms on the menu earlier that night?

 

[litebender]

16 hours ago, walkietalkiegg said:

I'm on royal Caribbean liberty of the seas right now and just saw the same! We are very near Roatan. I've seen flying fish but these do not behave the same. In dying to know what they are and glad I'm not the only one to have seen them!

Can you describe what you saw, such as the size and type of movement?

Also what time did this occur?

[walkietalkiegg]

Lite bender,

 

This was seen October 1, 2019 around 8pm from our starboard balcony. They appeared to be spherical, glowing soft white with a slow darting, random movement. I would guess approx 7-8 cm in diameter. 

 

I've witnessed ball lightening on several occasions (storm chasing) but this was very different. At first my thought was flying fish with light reflecting off the belly of them, but soon realized they didn't originate from or return to the water. They didn't follow the air flow created by the ship and they didn't seem to reflect any particular light source. Google as I may, I keep coming up blank!

[litebender]

47 minutes ago, walkietalkiegg said:

Lite bender,

 

This was seen October 1, 2019 around 8pm from our starboard balcony. They appeared to be spherical, glowing soft white with a slow darting, random movement. I would guess approx 7-8 cm in diameter. 

 

I've witnessed ball lightening on several occasions (storm chasing) but this was very different. At first my thought was flying fish with light reflecting off the belly of them, but soon realized they didn't originate from or return to the water. They didn't follow the air flow created by the ship and they didn't seem to reflect any particular light source. Google as I may, I keep coming up blank!

Thanks Walkie. My ufos did seem to originate from the water surface,  and eventually drifted up up and out of sight.

[Bigchief1957]

We just got home from a cruise to Mexico. We saw a few other birds, but two were glowing. Here's a snapshot from my video.

[*Miss G*]

So weird that you resurrected this topic because I just saw this in March!  Woke up at 2:00am and saw these glowing white things all around the ship.  Hundreds of them!  Naturally, I immediately thought “Aliens!”  I grabbed my camera and took pics and videos.  If you look closely at the video you can see the wings.  Turns out they were seagulls.  It’s freaky when you wake up out of a dead sleep though!

 

 

 

 

 

[navybankerteacher]

On 10/2/2019 at 12:34 AM, ilikeanswers said:

For centuries sailors reported seeing "glowing waters". All these reports were dismmised as the sailors having a little too much to drink or going a little gaga. Roll on into the 21st century we have satalites photographing the Earth and guess what gets snapped? Glowing patches of ocean😂. A few more years of research and they figured the cause: Noctiluca scintillans a bioluminescent diatom. Normally they do not glow so no one realised they were bioluminescent in the first place but for so some reason (the scientists are still trying to figure out the why) they just start glowing as a group. While they happen spontanously around the world there are some guaranteed spots like around Puerto Rico where is happens quite regularly.

 

...

On my first deployment to the Caribbean, back when US Navy ships drew in seawater for fire and flushing, and discharged sewage back into the sea, we were at anchor off the south shore of Vieques (just to the east of Puerto Rico) supporting Marines on landing exercises, and when you flushed the toilet at night the entire bowl glowed a pale yellow green from the agitated bioluminescent creatures so thick in the sea water.

[wcook]

I love necrothreads. As for the OP, I’ve seen this and all rots of crazy things. But in my case, yeah I was drunk.