At Sea
Veils almost always conceal something beautiful. They cover the blushes of brides, the charms of modest Islamic maidens and the bowers of Shakespearean lovers. To draw aside such delicate barriers is a rare pleasure, devoutly to be wished.
Today, crossing the Scotia Sea from the craggy shores of the South Orkneys to the Antarctic Mecca of South Georgia, the sea itself is a veil, rippling with infinite shades of grey, laced with spray. This mask covers the greater part of our planet, hiding from our view many strange landscapes, wonderful creatures and scenes of unearthly beauty. The mystery and anticipation engendered by this concealment has lasted for many centuries, but finally, mostly within our own lifetimes, we have begun to draw the veil aside.
SCUBA diving is certainly the most important of the new tools that have allowed us to reveal the secrets of the sea. Using this simple technology during our exploration of the Antarctic Peninsula we opened an otherwise hidden world, enjoying views of coral gardens, pearlescent anemones and strange fish, scenes which even the great explorers of the heroic age could only see in their imaginations.
Our Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) drew the veil further aside, allowing us to look into the realm of twilight and permanent darkness hundreds of feet down. Here, astoundingly, we again found a rich community of weird and wonderful animals in the shapes of bushes, castles and ostrich plumes, all living on the rain of food falling from the sunlit world above.
Most recently we used our Splash Cam to look just below the surface. Even in the clear calm water we were lucky enough to experience around the South Orkneys, refraction and reflection shatter the light from below like an iridescent sheer. But when we lowered our pole-mounted camera through this transparent barrier everything snapped into focus and we were granted a clear look into the three-dimensional world of the seals and sea lions. Watching playful Antarctic fur seals and sinuous leopards fly elegant acrobatics just under our boats allows us to see their real nature as powerful, graceful creatures of the sea.
With all this in our recent experience, we can look at the ocean in a new way. It is still veiled, still mysteriously beautiful, but today as we cruise over the waves we can reflect on all that is hidden beneath them.
