Being at sea for so many days without being able to
physically get in the water is practically torture! But it doesn’t keep me from
many hours of staring at it. Most of the time, I see only blue, broken by
scattered white caps or the occasional flying fish, which are surprisingly
mesmerizing. Some days I get lucky.
On the ship, there’s a strange concept of time and one tends
to operate in “Sea Day” mode, rather than referring to days of the week. So, on
Sea Day 3, about 1300 nautical miles out of San Diego, while studying for the
GRE in the lounge with the largest windows, I heard a passenger yell, “Sea
gull!” I probably would have been less startled if it had been a sea gull, as I
would have assumed it had hitched a ride on the ship.
However, flapping vigorously
to catch up to the bow, was a full-grown Red-footed Booby. It was raining, but
I jumped up and grabbed my camera and rain-jacket (it’s great to always be
prepared with my explorer backpack … thanks Steph if you’re reading this!). It
was awesome to watch him “rest” (glide without flapping) at the stern, letting
the wind carry him. After a short break, he rose up, only to fold his large
wings and dive into the steel blue water below. The first two attempts appeared
unsuccessful. As cliché as it sounds, I was rooting for him as he made his third plunge. When he emerged from the
surface a few seconds later with (as far as I could tell) a lanternfish hanging
from his bill, I had to applaud. This was also in part because I had actually
managed to get the photo. It was a perfect example of the advantage that diving
seabirds, like boobies, have in their ability to access food not available to
other seabirds that are feeding right at the surface. My surprise was in seeing
a booby so far away from land. Many tropical seabirds spend a great deal of
time more than 1,000 miles away from land, some remaining at sea for years at a
time. However, of any tropical seabirds, because of their large body size,
despite a substantial wingspan, boobies are not as well equipped as others
(i.e. an albatross) to conserve enough energy to fly so far from their nesting
areas. Red-footed boobies nest throughout the Hawaiian Islands and are rarely
seen more than 100 miles from land. Perhaps this individual had limited food
resources close to his nesting area or maybe he felt like a challenge … this
would be a question for an expert!
There wasn’t much else, in terms of pelagic marine life this
trip. So, in port, I was anxious to get my nature fix. Oahu was a day of
reconnecting with people, while my bicycle expedition in Kona was more of a
cultural experience. And then there was Maui … I booked a two-tank dive out of
Maalea Harbor for the afternoon. The first site was literally like turtle soup!
I have never seen so many massive turtles in one area! The coral cover beneath
was also a pleasant surprise and I was in awe of the colors, the extent, and
the abundance of reef life teeming all over it! I saw at least half-a-dozen
species of marine organisms that I had yet to see on any Oahu dive or snorkel.
That would have been enough. But apparently I was destined
to be on visual sensory overload … Within minutes of descending onto the second
dive site, we were in the presence of a majestic lone Manta Ray with about a
nine-foot wingspan. The ray took a big loop in front of us, almost as if to
acknowledge each individual. I was at the end of the line and it gave me the
chills to watch such an incredible animal swimming straight toward me. When he
was about three yards away, he gracefully veered in the opposite direction and
disappeared into the distance. The magic of the dive ended with watching two
different, but equally strange and beautiful, nudibranchs cruise over the reef.
On the bus ride back, watching the sun set over the ocean world
I’d spent two hours immersed in, all I could think was … wow.
