Window on the Unseen
Like a curtain being pulled back, revealing landscape which has not been previously witnessed, stepping from a boat into the waters above a reef and turning your eyes toward the ocean’s bottom opens a window on a world which could not have been imagined had it not been seen.
Had it not been seen, the language of the sea would continue to be the language of wind and waves, and weather that sweeps in on predictable currents, and the traffic of human hulls from one dry landing to another. Here, however, the life which moved undetected beneath our domain… one glimpse adds new words and new harmonies to the music of the planet, making one both smaller and larger at the same time.
Today we cruised out to Molokini, the remains of an ancient crater just off the coast of Maui. Its stone ring rises from the waters and forms a perfect protective arena for reef and fish, isolated from the stronger offshore currents which pull toward the big island, embracing a crystal-clear pool for mutual curiosity.
The colorful Tang, the improbable needlefish, striped Butterfly and simple Parrotfish; a camouflaged Moray Eel, and numerous other minor species gathered near the current to feed – and we, unremarkable intruders, could swim in among them – above or below, or through their midst, as a few deviated in their course to avoid us, others to examine us.
Whales were blowing from their spouts in the greater bay, and tipping up to show us their tails, sometimes to breach the waves completely and land with an artificial wave. We made one more stop at a turtle cleaning station, again donning diving gear to open the window into another world.
The sea turtles were lounging at the bottom though, being air breathers, they needed to surface every twenty minutes or so to take in air. As we floated quietly on the surface, one after another turned their beaked faces skyward, and rose past us almost within arms’ reach. I swam with one; another decided we were an interesting entertainment for the morning, and rested on the surface beside our boat.
I watched the creature; the creature watched me. These turtles have a lifespan of up to eighty years… perhaps my contemporary was as interested in this other life form, as I was in his.