To take the more serious tact that many of the good folks here have, I hope you will pardon the length of this piece, but I wrote it for myself a few days ago, not for forum length. It just strikes me that it pertains to the discussion at hand if we want to get, well, deep about it.....
She stared down into the inky waters and pondered on the sheer depths. Fathoms as they say, in dark sounding nautical speak. More than you can fathom? How deep must it be to make it look so black, so foreboding? So bottomless, threatening, and welcoming all at once. The boat lurched, up and then down. A sudden wave, struck by the hurried boat, splashed salt water across her face, her camera. She wiped her face, licked her hand, and pondered how it tasted like sweat as she set about polishing the camera lens clean.
“That’s not good for the lens,” said the American to her right as she set about her task.
“No **** Sherlock,” her bitter inner voice chirped as she continued to rub. She didn’t speak in that voice though, she put on the fake one instead.
“Yeah, damn waves. So, where are you from?” As if it wasn’t obvious from his accent.
He started droning his life story in her ear as she continued to try to train her camera on the expected dolphins. They were off in the distance, not wanting to approach the boat, the story of her life these days... joy and frivolity coming near, just where you can see it, but not wanting to come near enough to her to be felt.
With the tourist droning in her ear, she continued her struggle for a photo, proof, a captured moment, until it became clear that it simply was not going to materialize for her. Sighing in resignation she put the lens cap on and hid the camera away from the unforgiving salt spray. She continued staring down, waiting for a glimpse of the elusive beasts coming alongside the boat, but, still all she got was flips of fins and tails in the distance, as the water past the wake of the boat remained pitch black. Tiring of training her eyes down, she looked out across the water. Her vision led her hardly any distance at all before the fog blocked any further view from her. Black, and white. Water and fog.
But wait. A ripple. And then a ripple ahead of it. And then, cresting the water, a giant grey back breached the water. A huff, and water misted into the air, a sigh, and the great back sank back down. So slow, so sleek, that its size seemed almost impossible to gauge. When you realize though that it’s moving... massive... unfathomable. A great grey break in the black and white of this ocean experience, she was drawn to these beasts. The flash of a white jaw is like a jewel under the water. The tour guide droned on about how these animals are ‘just’ finbacks. ‘Just’ the second largest in the world. Not as flashy, not as showy, not as interesting, as their humpback counterparts who steal the show in these waters with wild jumps and shows of their tails. “Don’t worry, we’ll keep looking for the ones we want to see.”
Drawn doesn’t even begin to describe how she feels toward these whales. Not as flashy, not as showy, not as interesting. But, here they are, the ones that showed up. Huge, incredible, awe inspiring if you were to get down below the surface of it. Leave it to humanity to feel that’s not enough. She wants to climb into the water with them, fling herself away from these people who aren’t willing to look at what’s in front of them but instead worry about what ‘better’ they might see.
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