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
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Turtles: Ninjas of the Ocean
The automatic doors slid open and I stared dumbfounded at the plants in front of me. I turned to Jake, "there's no glass in between them and us is there..." I could hardly contain my smile as my brain adjusted to the fact that the temperature was above freezing.
welcome to Maui.
Similar to the first day in AK, I rolled over at seven the next morning and looked out the window to see a palm tree gleaming happily in the morning sunlight. Tiny zebra doves flitted around, looking for all the world like they had flown headfirst into a baby-blue powder-puff. Marveling at the fact that I was walking outside in shorts and a tee-shirt, the group took a short drive to a reef where we could snorkel. I readied my digital camera; eager to try it out underwater. Upon sinking into the lukewarm waters there was just too much to take pictures of! everything was spectacular, the way the fish floated, the outcoppings of fan corals, the islands of brain coral in the middle of the sand. Fish of all colors and shapes darted around, each with thier own personality. Reef triggerfish were camera shy, but didn't mind you getting close. Unicorn fish were practically throwing themselves at the lens, giving perfect profiles and framing. the spectacularly colored cleaner wrasses would dart away anytime you moved, then shyly peek out if you were patient enough.
Allen found a little moray eel with white polka-dots all over its body hiding in a patch of brain coral. Jake and I immediately marveled at it-similar to the cleaner wrasses it was shy at first-but ended up poking about the coral once we held still for a little bit. By now I was shivering cold and about to head in to lay in the sun for a little bit. I finally managed a good picture of the moray and looked over to let Jake know I was going in.
For anyone that hasn't snorkled or scuba-dived, there are several things that you need to know:
1) there is no pripheral vision with masks, so if you aren't facing it, you can't see it.
2) the human voice doesn't work well under water, so gestures are hevily relied upon.
As I faced Jake I saw him FRANTICALLY pointing to Allen (on my other side). I spun and made a surprised shriek at the sea turtle five inches away from my face and directly under Allen!
Despite the noises we managed to make- it very calmly headbutted Allen's chest, hit me with a flipper, decided it was done and flapped lazily off over the reef. As startled as we were, we managed to follow it for a good bit and get some good pictures. Shivering and completely content with the first 12 hours in Maui, I headed to shore to show people the pictures and brag about being assaulted by a sea turtle...
I can only wonder what the next six days will have in store for us.
welcome to Maui.
Similar to the first day in AK, I rolled over at seven the next morning and looked out the window to see a palm tree gleaming happily in the morning sunlight. Tiny zebra doves flitted around, looking for all the world like they had flown headfirst into a baby-blue powder-puff. Marveling at the fact that I was walking outside in shorts and a tee-shirt, the group took a short drive to a reef where we could snorkel. I readied my digital camera; eager to try it out underwater. Upon sinking into the lukewarm waters there was just too much to take pictures of! everything was spectacular, the way the fish floated, the outcoppings of fan corals, the islands of brain coral in the middle of the sand. Fish of all colors and shapes darted around, each with thier own personality. Reef triggerfish were camera shy, but didn't mind you getting close. Unicorn fish were practically throwing themselves at the lens, giving perfect profiles and framing. the spectacularly colored cleaner wrasses would dart away anytime you moved, then shyly peek out if you were patient enough.
Allen found a little moray eel with white polka-dots all over its body hiding in a patch of brain coral. Jake and I immediately marveled at it-similar to the cleaner wrasses it was shy at first-but ended up poking about the coral once we held still for a little bit. By now I was shivering cold and about to head in to lay in the sun for a little bit. I finally managed a good picture of the moray and looked over to let Jake know I was going in.
For anyone that hasn't snorkled or scuba-dived, there are several things that you need to know:
1) there is no pripheral vision with masks, so if you aren't facing it, you can't see it.
2) the human voice doesn't work well under water, so gestures are hevily relied upon.
As I faced Jake I saw him FRANTICALLY pointing to Allen (on my other side). I spun and made a surprised shriek at the sea turtle five inches away from my face and directly under Allen!
Despite the noises we managed to make- it very calmly headbutted Allen's chest, hit me with a flipper, decided it was done and flapped lazily off over the reef. As startled as we were, we managed to follow it for a good bit and get some good pictures. Shivering and completely content with the first 12 hours in Maui, I headed to shore to show people the pictures and brag about being assaulted by a sea turtle...
I can only wonder what the next six days will have in store for us.
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