Under the Sea

I can remember the instant I became enthralled by the ocean. As an inquisitive child, I rarely missed a nature television show that aired on any one of the 4 channels that sometimes came in on our TV. Programs like Nature, Nova, and National Geographic held my adolescent attention like nothing else, transfixing my senses and quieting my mouth for a solid hour, which if you asked my Mom, was nothing short of a miracle. Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, hosted by Marlin Perkins (a fellow Missourian), was probably my favorite among the nature show genre, though it was assuredly the cheesiest. Marlin would normally step out of harm’s way while biologist, Jim Fowler, and a team of locals would attempt to corral and catch some snarling beast, all in the name of "furthering research," while an over-produced but snazzy bass line pulsed, adding to the already palpable drama. They were always relocating ostriches, reestablishing a new herd of wildebeests, or trailering some damn animal that you would never dream could actually be caught. Marlin and Jim were the "Crocodile Hunters" of their time. They seemed to spend most of their time filming & grappling animals on the African savanna, but every now and then Marlin and Co. would embark on an ocean adventure.

While Jim was busy wrestling Bengal tigers, Mr. Marbles and I set up camp.

One such episode in particular stuck with me and forever instilled in me the desire to learn everything I could about the ocean. Once I saw the "Wild Kingdom" crew don chain mail suits and hand feed highly aggressive blue sharks I was hooked; the deep blue which surrounded them was simultaneously inviting and foreboding. From that point on when other kids were elbow-deep in Judy Blume and Dr. Suess books, I could be found searching Time Life or National Geographic reference books for my latest fix of oceanic knowledge. Strange how my fixation with all things aquatic never translated into a desire to become a marine biologist, oceanographer, or even a commercial fisherman; but with my sense of fascination also grew a fear of all that the ocean’s surface veiled. For a Missouri farm boy the endless ocean was as alien and distant as outer space.

As I matured I never lost my curiosity for the open ocean, The Old Man and the Sea was my favorite book and reading stories about nautical disasters became a macabre hobby for me. As mentioned in a previous post, I have been fortunate enough to go out to sea a couple of times now which has only left me wanting to do and see more. I do plan on getting SCUBA certified so I can ultimately dive at the second largest coral reef in the world off the East coast of Belize, but what I want to do more than anything is SHARK DIVE! For a nominal fee, there are charters that will stick you in a cage in the protected white shark waters of California and South Africa. Perching precariously over the dark abyss in a spindly-barred cage while 18-foot great whites emerge and disappear from cloudy blue-green water would be starring down one of my biggest fears in the face. To be honest, I don’t know if my heart would be strong enough to endure the prolonged adrenaline rush that I would surely experience. Then, to open the door for a moment and to quickly enjoy an unobstructed view of a white shark, a creature feared by all, would be the ultimate climax to my life. I would also like to boat out to the Farallon Islands, an archipelago 30 miles west of San Francisco. This area, also known as the "red triangle," is a breeding ground for elephant seals and other pinipeds, all of which white sharks love to munch on. It is in these rarified waters where white sharks can be seen in good numbers during the fall while feasting on the abundant seals and leaping haphazardly from the water’s surface. The successful sharks dive below the seals and remain unseen until at some point, known only to the sharks, they rush upwards with great speed and attempt to hit the seal head on. With a direct hit, the impact alone is usually enough to dispatch the seals, though miraculously they sometimes escape relatively unscathed with only a few bloody gashes to serve as souvenirs, or rather, battle scars. The real show is what occurs after the shark makes its initial run at the seal and the forward momentum sends the shark (some of them 20’+) airborne, usually completely out of the water! The awkward aerobatics of the white shark is quite possibly the most unique and awesome displays in all of nature.

The reason why so many people, like myself, are drawn to the mysteries and creatures of the ocean is that we are humbled by the sheer volume of it, both its physical mass and all that remains undiscovered.