The Bioluminescent Lagoon at Holbox: A Night Ceremony on Water That Glows When You Touch It

Holbox is an island without cars. Golf carts are the standard vehicle and the standard vehicle is optional, because the island is small enough to walk. The Caribbean side of the island has the shallow flat beach that Holbox is photographed for: the turquoise water extending to the horizon over the sandbar, the pelicans, the occasional flamingo. But the lagoon side, facing the Yucatan mainland, has something that the beach does not: bioluminescence. The lagoon water contains dinoflagellates, single-celled marine organisms that produce light when disturbed. At night, in the months when the concentration is highest, disturbing the water produces a blue-green glow that is visible to the naked eye. Swimming in bioluminescent water is on the surface of the lagoon at night: each stroke produces a wash of cold light. A ceremony at the water’s edge of a bioluminescent lagoon is a ceremony in an environment that requires no artificial lighting, because the water provides it.

When the Bioluminescence Is Present

The dinoflagellates that produce bioluminescence in the Holbox lagoon are present year-round at low concentrations and at higher concentrations from June through October, which is the same period as the whale shark season. The peak bioluminescence months align with the rainy season, which brings nutrient-rich water and supports the dinoflagellate bloom. The practical implication for ceremony planning is that the best bioluminescence is available in the same months as the whale sharks, giving the option to combine both in a single Holbox trip. New moon nights give the most visible bioluminescence because the absence of moonlight means the blue-green glow is not competing with ambient light. Full moon nights still show some bioluminescence but the effect is significantly reduced by comparison.

Photography in Bioluminescent Water

Photographing bioluminescence is a long-exposure problem similar to dark sky work: the light levels are very low and the glow is visible to the camera only with exposures of ten seconds or longer. The specific challenge at Holbox is that the couple in the water creates the glow by moving, which means they cannot be still for the exposure if the glow is what I want to capture. My technique: I make two exposure types in sequence. The first is a long exposure of the glowing water without the couple in it, showing the blue-green light in the lagoon. The second is a shorter exposure with a brief flash illuminating the couple standing at the water’s edge with the glowing water visible behind and beside them. The composited result shows both the people and the phenomenon without the compromise of trying to capture both in a single technically impossible exposure.

The temperature of the lagoon water at night is warm, which is an advantage over the night photography locations I work in at altitude. The couple can be in the water during the session without the cold being a limiting factor. The main preparation is waterproof shoes or bare feet, a willingness to be wet, and clothing that is chosen for how it looks wet as well as dry.

The Island at Night

Holbox at night is quiet in a way that the Caribbean beach side is not during the day. The absence of cars means the sound at the lagoon edge after midnight is the water, the insects, and whatever music is distant enough to not intrude. The no-vehicle character of the island is the reason bioluminescence photography is possible there in a way it is not on the mainland coast: there are no road lights, no car headlights, and no night traffic that would contribute to light pollution at the lagoon edge. The ceremony at the bioluminescent lagoon on Holbox is a ceremony on an island that removed its vehicles and kept its water clean enough for single-celled organisms to produce light in it at night.