What an incredible welcome Mother Nature gave me tonight as I was enjoying the end of the day as I always do, watching the sun go down. Here is an abbreviated version:
As the sun made its daily dash for the horizon there was suddenly a commotion all around the boat with a flock of small black terns of some sort with a small patch of white on their top of their heads and a lot of splashing in the water. Heading up to the bow to take a closer look I stood fixated by a fascinating play of an aquatic cycle of life before me.
First of the many actors were the purple jelly fish the population of which have literally exploded here and Learnativity has been surrounded by thousands of them since I first moored here back in October. Since returning two days ago it seems that their numbers have increased even more and they seem to be present at all times now. I’ve taken some photos and video of them which I will try to upload later but it is no exaggeration that there are thousands of them surrounding the boat at any one time with my count being over 60 of them for every cubic yard/meter of water around me.
Next set of actors in the play were about fifty or more relatively small black birds, terns would be my best uneducated guess, each with a distinctive white patch on top of their heads. They too were now flying all around Learnativity and keeping a very intent focus on the water as they flew back and forth just a foot or so above the surface. I soon saw why.
Below the surface the jelly fish were now surrounded by an even larger number of small minnows of some sort, measuring about 4” or 10cm long. The school of minnows were so dense that they turned the otherwise crystal clear blue water green with their sun reflecting off their scales. They were swarming in very short darts back and forth as far as I could see back on both sides of the boat and seemed to be very purposely staying as close to the hull as possible. I soon figured out why!
A shooting star like bright silver flash disappeared as fast as it appeared down deep in the water alongside Learnativity. Before I could even say What was that? there was a series of these silvery flashes of light darting by at stupendous speed about 5 meters below and though they were fast, their shape was clear and unmistakable: Tuna! Big ones! Each over a meter as best I could see.
And so the play began with a cycle of scenes with the minnows trying desperately to find just the right balance between staying as close to the boat as possible in the hopes the Tuna wouldn’t see them and trying to stay just far enough below the surface to stay out of reach of the talons of the ever swooping terns that were constantly flying back and forth from above. Then suddenly the surface would erupt as a formation of tuna would suddenly jet upwards like aquatic fighter planes and churn the surface as they made an open mouthed pass through the school of minnows. The terns in turn (sorry, couldn’t resist) would flock around to grab any minnows the Tuna missed and were up on the surface.
Next scene would be more serene as the tuna circled further out and down deeper, the minnows grouped themselves tighter together and closer to the hull, the terns rose to higher altitudes to circle the boat waiting of their next turn and the apparently oblivious jelly fish kept up the rhythm section of the orchestra with their silent swooshing contractions all around. This cycle of life played out several times over the next 15 minutes and I just stood in awe up at the bow getting more practice at living in yet another of life’s moments I’ve been privileged to be a part of.
What a charmed and gifted life I lead and welcome home indeed!
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