I recently watched “Our Oceans” a Netflix documentary narrated by Barack Obama, whose voice alone is soothing.
The series reminded me of all the times that I went out on the water and all the creatures I have seen.
In Hawaii, I was on a boat and I saw a humpback whale breach. It was amazing. I wanted to jump up and get my camera but decided just to watch the spectacle and remember it.
When diving there, I remember sea turtles swimming above me. Since I don’t know where my dive books are that I recorded all my dives in, I can’t remember what location I saw the turtles. I just remember seeing them swimming high above me around some high rock formations. It was magical.
I was on my own boat going toward the Channel Islands of California when we saw the water churning. There were thousands of dolphins in the distance and at some point we were smack dab in the middle of them. At the bow of my 50-foot Grand Banks yacht, I saw dolphins swimming along side of us. On both sides. We (my crew) estimated there must have been over 7,000 of them.
When I was in the Maldives, I took a trip on the Four Seasons yacht, the Explorer, along with other journalists/divers. We came upon a whale shark that was gigantic. We warned not to get too close as contact with the gentle giants’ skin can be harmful to them. Whale sharks can grow up to 50 feet and 20 tons and more! This one was about 15 to 20 feet.
We went near to where the whale shark was located and dove off the yacht’s rubber dingy.
Almost immediately the filter-feeding giant came toward me, its large mouth open. I backed away as fast as I could, yet it stayed with me. The whale shark seemed to be as curious about us as we were about him/her. I wasn’t scared but I was intimidated and didn’t want to hurt it – just touching its skin can remove the protective mucus layer on their skin. The whale shark kept so close to me that I had to gently push off from it or I would have been mowed over. My dive master said I didn’t hurt it, but I still wonder to this day.
Another time where I saw a whale shark was off the waters of Sri Lanka. I was on a 27-foot wood fishing boat. We saw another fishing boat that was bringing up their nets full of fish, but we were too far to be able to tell what kind of fish they’d caught.
Some time later we saw a whale shark that was bigger than our boat, much bigger and right next to us! It was going one way and we were going to other. Two ships passing in the sea. Scary.
I got married on a trimaran. My husband, several friends and I sailed around the Channel Islands for a week. There was one stop we made to swim with sea lions. They were playful and right in your face. It was so much fun!
Back in the Maldives on the Explorer, we went to a cleaning station where small fish and invertebrates clean larger fish like sharks of their dead skin and parasites. A shark spa!
The current was strong so we went down on an anchor line to a coral reef. Some places had reef hooks but where we were did not. I had to hold onto a strong bit of coral to stay from getting swept away by the current. The amount of sharks swimming off in the distance was scary yet a sight to see. I’m glad I was not in the center of their spa treatments!
What’s a girl to do?…I saw that “Jaws” is playing on Netflix. Nope, not gonna watch it. Not after remembering all my shark dives!
Lucy Llewellyn Byard welcomes commented that lucywgtd@gmail.com
