At Sea
We are making good speed towards Gough Island despite a freshening breeze and a building sea – like a prize show horse, the Endeavour gallops across the waves, their foam and spray like froth on her muzzle. We have learned to be good riders; her movements are smooth and sure! Ahead of us, over the horizon lies adventure; our anticipation grows. Each day we learn more about our next destination in lecture, film, and text.
Divers View A Fur Seal Ballet
Recently, my memories have become a verdant forest where I wander with child-like delight. There! In the kelp forest. Our last dive in South Georgia. Lisa and I drop into clear, cold water. We want some good video of the forest to share with our fellow travelers. As we float twenty feet below the surface of the Southern Ocean, suspended another fifteen feet above the rocky bottom, surrounded, but not confined by a hundred tall kelp, we are surprised by a sudden visit from a female fur seal.
She soars through the water, twists and squirms; she stands on her head and pirouettes on her fins, winks (I think) and with an effortless flick of her long flippers…disappears. But not for long. Again and again she comes back. I don’t think she can believe what she is seeing. I don’t think she has ever seen a diver. She is shy, but too curious to stay away. We remain motionless, too slow and too clumsy, we do not want to ruin the scene with our lack of grace, our solidity versus her fluidity. Time and time again she makes incredibly close passes in front of Lisa who holds the camera, digital tape screaming. The fur seal seems to be attracted to the camera lights; her face fills the lens. Minutes pass since her last appearance. Perhaps she has grown bored?
Encore Ensemble!
We go on with filming the kelp until I catch a snatch of motion, a shadow at the side of my eye. About twenty feet away and slightly above us there are at least two dozen seals doing spins, flips and dives! There are females, youngsters and one large male. Even in their exuberance they remain as a group, like performers on a great stage, their rapid motions a dance, each animal with its own steps and time. The females dart left and right, up and down, the juveniles make cautious arcs and swift retreats, and the male waltzes with ponderous, side to side movements, slow, majestic and powerful.
Those are our last memories of South Georgia and ours are only two of a hundred here on Endeavour. We have tasted of this wondrous meal and cannot even imagine what the next course will bring. Our complements to the Chef!
We are making good speed towards Gough Island despite a freshening breeze and a building sea – like a prize show horse, the Endeavour gallops across the waves, their foam and spray like froth on her muzzle. We have learned to be good riders; her movements are smooth and sure! Ahead of us, over the horizon lies adventure; our anticipation grows. Each day we learn more about our next destination in lecture, film, and text.
Divers View A Fur Seal Ballet
Recently, my memories have become a verdant forest where I wander with child-like delight. There! In the kelp forest. Our last dive in South Georgia. Lisa and I drop into clear, cold water. We want some good video of the forest to share with our fellow travelers. As we float twenty feet below the surface of the Southern Ocean, suspended another fifteen feet above the rocky bottom, surrounded, but not confined by a hundred tall kelp, we are surprised by a sudden visit from a female fur seal.
She soars through the water, twists and squirms; she stands on her head and pirouettes on her fins, winks (I think) and with an effortless flick of her long flippers…disappears. But not for long. Again and again she comes back. I don’t think she can believe what she is seeing. I don’t think she has ever seen a diver. She is shy, but too curious to stay away. We remain motionless, too slow and too clumsy, we do not want to ruin the scene with our lack of grace, our solidity versus her fluidity. Time and time again she makes incredibly close passes in front of Lisa who holds the camera, digital tape screaming. The fur seal seems to be attracted to the camera lights; her face fills the lens. Minutes pass since her last appearance. Perhaps she has grown bored?
Encore Ensemble!
We go on with filming the kelp until I catch a snatch of motion, a shadow at the side of my eye. About twenty feet away and slightly above us there are at least two dozen seals doing spins, flips and dives! There are females, youngsters and one large male. Even in their exuberance they remain as a group, like performers on a great stage, their rapid motions a dance, each animal with its own steps and time. The females dart left and right, up and down, the juveniles make cautious arcs and swift retreats, and the male waltzes with ponderous, side to side movements, slow, majestic and powerful.
Those are our last memories of South Georgia and ours are only two of a hundred here on Endeavour. We have tasted of this wondrous meal and cannot even imagine what the next course will bring. Our complements to the Chef!
