Of Brotherhood and Whale Song on the Edge of an Abyss
Overwhelmingly, it is our experiences with friends that make traveling enjoyable. The camaraderie forged from shared, and often intense, occurrences are what create lasting friendships. A life afloat can allow one to experience new cultures, heavy weather or natural events, all in a short period of time. While out to sea, I found brothers I never knew I had. We shared brotherhood and whale Song on the Edge of an Abyss.
Yesterday we heard from a local Tongan man that snorkeling on the reef at night is often very productive for catching lobsters. Until now we have not done much night snorkeling on the outer reef because that’s when the Tiger sharks come in to forage. Of all the close shark encounters we have had so far, that is not one I’m willing to risk. However, a local fisherman assured us that no big sharks patrol this location at night. So off we went, lobster spears and flashlights in hand. We perched on a reef on the outer side of all the Tongan islands, which abruptly drops off to over 1000 meters (3000 feet) deep. Eric, Jamie and I entered the dark water and snorkeled around a bit enjoying the night reef life. An abundance of nocturnal squirrelfish, pufferfish, seafeathers (crinoids) and shrimp were about, but clearly no lobsters were to be seen. While at the surface of the water you can hear both the water splashing on your head and your breathing through the snorkel, while at depth during a dive, there is only the sound of the reef, that being mostly the snap-crackling of the snapping shrimp. On this night, while holding our breath underwater, we could clearly hear the billowing song of the Humpback whales that were not so far off in the distance. As we ended our snorkel and approached the dinghy, the three of us turned off our lights and just floated above the moonlight reef. There, on the edge of that abyss, we hung weightless, while basking in a personal concert of whale-song as it was carried off into the ocean deep. [excerpt from aboard Io] Pics – Totem, Io & Oso-Blanco.
So off we went, lobster spears and flashlights in hand. We perched on a reef on the outer side of all the Tongan islands, which abruptly drops off to over 1000 meters (3000 feet) deep. Eric, Jamie and I entered the dark water and snorkeled around a bit enjoying the night reef life. An abundance of nocturnal squirrelfish, pufferfish, seafeathers (crinoids) and shrimp were about, but clearly no lobsters were to be seen. While at the surface of the water you can hear both the water splashing on your head and your breathing through the snorkel, while at depth during a dive, there is only the sound of the reef, that being mostly the snap-crackling of the snapping shrimp. On this night, while holding our breath underwater, we could clearly hear the billowing song of the Humpback whales that were not so far off in the distance. As we ended our snorkel and approached the dinghy, the three of us turned off our lights and just floated above the moonlight reef. There, on the edge of that abyss, we hung weightless, while basking in a personal concert of whale-song as it was carried off into the ocean deep. [excerpt from aboard Io] Pics – Totem, Io & Oso-Blanco.
Pingback: Authentic Thai Cooking: In the Galley of a Superyacht - MOUNTOCEAN