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The explanation that I remember about surf induced bioluminescence was
that the surf caused a rebounding pressure wave which micro organisms
would react to by emitting photons. The direction of the flashes were
toward the island which seems a bit counter intuitive. I can't recall
where I read about this but I am guessing that National Geographic or
NOAA published something on this subject.

On Jun 2, 5:21�am, Apache Runner  wrote:
> There was one odd detail in David Lewis' book that I never completely
> understood. � The biolumenescence from surf makes sense, but he spoke about
> another biolumenescence that occurred far out to sea. � The Polynesian term
> for it was "ti lapa", and roughly translates to "underwater lightning",
> where on overcast nights, they observed flashes underwater that pointed to
> islands quite distant. � �I never understood what phenomenon this might
> be. � I even spoke with a guy who specialized in fast-time response
> bioluminescent chemicals and he didn't have any good idea.
>
> David interviewed enough people to convince me it was a real effect, but I
> confess that I don't know its origin and can't explain it.
>
> On Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 12:15 AM, Greg Rudzinski wrote:
>
>
>
> > Welcome John,
>
> > � � What I find most interesting about Polynesian navigation was how
> > they observed the directional bioluminescent pulses of pounding island
> > surf as a homing beacon. This is quite a clever way to use nature to
> > advantage.
>
> > Greg
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