The Ocean In His Eyes

Misterioso Duck: 
sculpture mix; trans-brown and denim glazing.

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods; 
There is a rapture on the lonely shore; 
There is society, where none intrudes, 
By the deep sea, and music in its roar: 
I love not man the less, but Nature more, 
From these our interviews, in which I steal 
From all I may be, or have been before, 
To mingle with the Universe, and feel 
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.
--Lord Byron,

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage:
Canto IV, #178

Tidal Ignorance, Deeper Bliss

My dive-buddy Keith and I never mastered the tide tables.

We'd aim at early morning dives, high tide or low, figuring we'd pick the calmer, less wind-driven waters of most dawns over shallower, supposedly easier diving. Up on the Sonoma Coast, we weren't beach-diving, but were entering and exiting via rocky shores. Thinking about the wave action mattered more, we felt, than thinking about the tidal action. Especially, for exiting the water.

If the tide were in, well, we'd just hold our breath a bit more, kick a bit harder.

And, if the tide were in, later we could point out that we were diving deeper for our abalone. We'd laugh, knowing that we should know those tide tables better, but not really caring.

We were diving deep enough, deeper than some.

We didn't mind laughing at ourselves either.

Of course, if we'd been surfers, we'd have figured out those tables in very short order.

Annotations: Rachel Carson

Carson, Rachel.  The Edge of the Sea.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1955.

While The Sea Around Us is the better known volume, I prefer The Edge of the Sea because I prefer . . . the edge of the sea, the intertidal zone, the rocky shores, sandy beaches, and even the mudflats.  Here, Carson walks us through the different types of shores, of creatures, and of plants.  I was happy to reread this volume for this project.  I'd forgotten how well Carson presents the material; the book is academic without the mere dryness of most academic texts.

---.  The Sea Around Us. Revd. Ed.  New York: Signet, 1961.

Carson's book is a classic, and it is still relevant.  Her accurate and practical descriptions of the ocean and of ocean processes are presented in a style that can only be described as poetic and philosophical.  Grounded in reality, the book still soars.  I am always cheered up by reading even a few pages of this book.

Annotations: Broad, Carey, Carr

Broad, William J. The Universe Below: Discovering the Secrets of the Deep Sea. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

Broad is a Pulitzer-Prize-winning science writer, who had two books on Stars Wars Weapons Systems under his belt before he shifted from sky-high to ocean-deep. The deep sea is one of the last territories on Earth to be explored, and Broad brings us up to date (into the 90s, anyway) through interviews, explanations, and some adventuring of his own. My favorite chapter, which I could excerpt for English 1A or for an aquatic-literary elective, is "Canyon," an in-depth look at the vast submarine canyon in our nearby Monterey Bay. The Packard family and MBARI, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, are the stars for this epic descent.

Carey, Robin. Baja Journey: Reveries of a Sea-Kayaker. College Station, TX: Texas A & M UP, 1989.

Carey is an English professor from the Pacific Northwest, on vacation in the waters of Baja Mexico, full of thoughts of Shakespeare, the local scenes, and human frailty: philosophical, but with groundedness, despite being all about the water.

After reading this book, I rented a kayak and explored Monterey Bay for a few hours. Yes, I spent a little thought on Shakespeare and I considered how much colder it was off Monterey than off Cabo San Lucas, but mostly I thought how getting closer to the surface of nature really can get you closer to yourself, in the best ways possible.

Carr, Archie. So Excellent a Fishe: A Natural History of Sea-Turtles. New York: Anchor, 1972.

Carr's book is the Bible for sea turtle science, at least for many people. My wife is now reading this book in preparation for her own trip to Costa Rica and to the specific turtle station in Tortuguero. Carr sets the bar high with this in-depth study. He also walks the reader through the developing body of knowledge as he and other researchers work to answer the questions that beset them. How do turtles know how to navigate? Must they return to the same beaches they were hatched on? Where do the turtles go while developing from hatchlings to young adults, since no one seems to know: And further questions. Carr reports what he learns, and he includes us in the learning process, which makes the book and enjoyable and worthy model for thinking and discovering the things of the world.

P.S. Since Carr's book was published in 1972, obviously there are more up-to-date treatments, but So Excellent a Fishe is foundational. If all you want is information, then pick a more recent book. Indeed you should--I should--read current material too. Carr's book takes you on the journey, and that's a compelling consideration, I hope. (As a further note, the more recent reprints reverse the subtitle and title, making the book easier to discover when looking for sea turtle material: A Natural History of Sea-Turtles.)