At Sea
Slipping into the sea over an unfamiliar reef is much like entering a concert hall, anticipating the first notes of a new symphony by a familiar composer. Some of the opening strains are well known, like old friends: branching corals, castle corals, plate corals, but in what proportions? How will they be arranged and what unexpected notes will appear among the familiar themes? The reef top may be dominated by huge dome-shaped colonies of poriites, a visual distillation of kettle drums and bass strings, but nearby are woven in the intricate harmonies of delicately branching acroporas and bushy pocillopora.
Excitement builds as the fish make their entrance. Again there are many familiar themes in this new composition, but there are always surprises as well. Butterflyfish are the woodwinds, I think. You’ll never dive or snorkel in one of these reef symphonies without seeing some, but you never know exactly which ones will dominate. Maybe it will be the bright, flute-like eclipse butterflyfish, possibly the mid-range clarinets like ornate and reticulated butterflies or the deeper, funkier oboes such as humphead bannerfish. Suddenly there is a swelling of the brass as a school of jacks sweep through like a fanfare of trumpets, soon fading again, allowing us to seek out the subtle bass notes of cello sharks and tuba groupers.
Each new reef also features its own rich fugues, interlacing well-known elements into something new, the whole always greater than the sum of the parts. Anemonefish play intricate melodies, dancing among the tentacles of their hosts, and here they are joined by jet black damselfish. The whole composition takes a new turn as a sea turtle glides slowly by and the scene becomes all the richer and more wonderful when we notice that it is accompanied by a coronetfish, gliding also, inches above the turtle’s broad shell.
Today at Ravahere we attended our premier of a marvelous mid-ocean reef. Snorkeling, diving and riding the glass-bottom boat, we all lost ourselves in the brilliance and majesty of this beautiful symphony of life in the sea.
Slipping into the sea over an unfamiliar reef is much like entering a concert hall, anticipating the first notes of a new symphony by a familiar composer. Some of the opening strains are well known, like old friends: branching corals, castle corals, plate corals, but in what proportions? How will they be arranged and what unexpected notes will appear among the familiar themes? The reef top may be dominated by huge dome-shaped colonies of poriites, a visual distillation of kettle drums and bass strings, but nearby are woven in the intricate harmonies of delicately branching acroporas and bushy pocillopora.
Excitement builds as the fish make their entrance. Again there are many familiar themes in this new composition, but there are always surprises as well. Butterflyfish are the woodwinds, I think. You’ll never dive or snorkel in one of these reef symphonies without seeing some, but you never know exactly which ones will dominate. Maybe it will be the bright, flute-like eclipse butterflyfish, possibly the mid-range clarinets like ornate and reticulated butterflies or the deeper, funkier oboes such as humphead bannerfish. Suddenly there is a swelling of the brass as a school of jacks sweep through like a fanfare of trumpets, soon fading again, allowing us to seek out the subtle bass notes of cello sharks and tuba groupers.
Each new reef also features its own rich fugues, interlacing well-known elements into something new, the whole always greater than the sum of the parts. Anemonefish play intricate melodies, dancing among the tentacles of their hosts, and here they are joined by jet black damselfish. The whole composition takes a new turn as a sea turtle glides slowly by and the scene becomes all the richer and more wonderful when we notice that it is accompanied by a coronetfish, gliding also, inches above the turtle’s broad shell.
Today at Ravahere we attended our premier of a marvelous mid-ocean reef. Snorkeling, diving and riding the glass-bottom boat, we all lost ourselves in the brilliance and majesty of this beautiful symphony of life in the sea.
