At Sea

Three continents and three beautiful archipelagos in less than three weeks! This has been an exceptional journey, one which has given us a chance to experience the central Atlantic Ocean on a truly planetary scale. From the northern temperate zone on the western fringes of Europe, we cruised in the wake of Vasco da Gama and Charles Darwin, down the west coast of Africa and into the tropics. Passing through the northeast trade winds and the inter-tropical convergence zone, we were welcomed into the Southern Hemisphere by King Neptune and his court. Now we are well into Brazilian waters, approaching the east coast of South America. In an age of jet travel, it is a rare privilege to enjoy this kind of mile-by-mile transition across a significant section of the planet.

Between Portugal and Brazil we made stops in three of the five Macaronesian island groups: Madeira, the Canary Islands and Cabo Verde. This region of the Atlantic is a very special place. Not far from the shores of Europe and Africa but isolated by geologic history and the sweep of ocean currents, these islands are home to strange laurel forests and a unique community of marine creatures. The waters around the rocky shores, clear and blue and pleasantly warm, contain very little coral but teem with fishes of every description, a number of them endemic species that are found nowhere else in the world.

Such endemism is very rare in the world beneath the sea. Most reef fish and invertebrates go through a larval phase during which they are planktonic, long distance travelers that ride the ocean’s currents for many miles in search of suitable homes. Consequently, many marine species are very broadly distributed, a fact that became plain to us during our exploration of the eastern tropical Atlantic, as we found surgeonfish and butterflyfish from West Africa living side by side with soldierfish and damselfish from the Caribbean.

Best of all, we also encountered several of the islands’ endemic fish species. These wonderful rarities, like the pugnacious Cabo Verde damselfish and the beautiful Cabo Verde wrasse, are jewels of biodiversity that speak eloquently of the special nature of their insular homes.

This served to confirm the impressions we had formed on shore while visiting the spectacular scenery and being welcomed by the friendly inhabitants of these remote islands – this journey across Atlas’ ocean is a delightful and enriching one, both in the power of its geographic scope and in the many exquisite details that fill each day along the way.
 

David Cothran, Undersea Specialist
Click here to read the author's bio