It’s been a few days since I posted because the internet has been sketchy, mostly because I was traveling with my family through the outback and then over to the Queensland coast at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. It was very fun, and I will post backlogged entries as I have time, but I really wanted to start here at the end of the mini-trip.
Going out on the reef was fantastic. I’m not a big goingintheocean kind of person, I’m much more of a lookattheoceanfromtheshoreandcontemplateit type. So the fact that I actually went into the ocean and snorkeled will probably surprise some who know me.
What won’t be as surprising is that I learned a lot while I was out there. I learned that clown fish (the nemo fish) are bigger than I expected and that they are a type of damsel fish. I learned that green sea turtles are like any other type of reptile in that they enjoy sunning themselves. What makes them different is that they sun themselves under the water.I learned that I kind of panic if I can’t breathe normally and that a snorkel, no matter how good or helpful, does not allow for normal breathing. I also learned that given enough time I can talk myself into even those things which instigate the beginning of a panic-attack. I also learned about the perfect tree to take with me if I ever need to start a colony on another planet.
The one thing that I learned that still makes me fantastically happy is that coral are related to jellyfish.
The coral polyps are tiny jellyfish-like creatures encased in a calcium-carbonate shell. When mature coral spawn, the baby corals float around for a few hours and figure out a place to set down and make a home. Once they settle, they never leave.
I have a friend who describes jellyfish as the wanderers of the sea, which I think is beautifully perfect. I think that coral could be described as the homebodies of the sea. They never leave home, but they are connected to all the other life simply because they exist. Coral, in it’s jellyfish way, wanders the oceans but only to the extend that the ocean comes through its door.
I love that the coral provides this anchor because all wanderers need a place they can connect with, but I think I’m still in the jellyfish stage of my life. I’m still wandering and deciding if I’ll set down or if I’ll continue to wander.
