The Siren Song of the Sea

I look out of the window as I wake up.
"what's it like out?" asks John
"beautiful..again" someone replies.
we all laugh.

perfect temperature, sunny, and the ocean waves rolling on the beach, throwing the smell of salt into the air. another wonderful day to go snorkeling. We spend a half-hour driving to the highly touristy end of the island and set up camp on the beach outside of a resort. The fish here are so used to being fed and seeing people that they are hardly skittish at all! I swam through schools of varied fishes, and was startled as I actually ran into a school of needle fish that were hanging out at the very surface. It was nice snorkling, though nothing special until Tim came hurrying over to me and lets me know that there are cuttlefish!

my love for cuttlefish, squid, and octopi is known to just about anyone who knows me.
Cuttlefish? here? my finger involuntarily twitched over the camera button. After a minute of searching, there they were! a group of six cuttlefish just hanging around near the bottom being absolutely adorable. They were moving their tentacles about and wrestling with each other.
of course, I had to get closer. They gave off the impression that they were tolerating me, and just when I was about to take a picture they changed from striped to dark red and sped off!

the chase was on!

two minutes later they shot off and I was gasping for air-the devious little bastards had just swam in a large circle and then jet propelled away once I got to the same spot I was before. If cuttlefish could laugh-I'm sure they would have been weeping with mirth. I gave up and went out to deeper water, in search of turtles and rays. what I found instead was one of the most beautiful things I have ever, ever experienced.

I dove to get a picture of another colorful fish- and as I held still under ten feet of blue water with light streaming shadows and ripples on my skin I heard the whales singing. There is no way to describe the beauty of the moment as their song radiated not just through my ears, but my very bones. It echoed in my lungs, pleading me to stay as I floated to the surface. Even now, if I close my eyes and hold my breath I can still hear their siren song