There's a scene in Wes Anderson's film The Life Aquatic in which the characters, angered and hurt by one another, come across the much anticipated jaguar shark. Though Steve Zissou intends to kill this shark in order to avenge his friend, seeing this shark swimming in the wild is so profound that no one can do anything but stare. "Staraflur" by Sigur Rós plays in the background and despite how much of an asshole Steve has been through the entire film because he has difficulty expressing human emotion, he wonders if the shark remembers him. It is at this point in the film where reconciliation occurs, as everyone in the cramped submarine places their hand on Steve as an act of human connection and comfort. Thus, this beautiful shark, though he may have taken a life, has brought everyone in the submarine together. (watch the scene, abbreviated, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ8U9t4MgN8)
While in the Gladden Spit Placencia Sanctuary, a few biologists, biology students and I went diving into the open ocean. Literally all we could see was an abyss of blue all around us. Beneath us, however, was the ocean floor, over 125' below us and perfectly visible. We spent nearly an hour blowing bubbles and attempting to attract a whale shark, as bubbles can be mistaken for snapper eggs. The dive was unsuccessful though, and we begrudgingly climbed back into the boat. While finding a place for a second dive, however, my professor points out a fin and yells "DOLPHIN!" Upon the animal's second surfacing, we realized it was definitely not a dolphin. Rather, it was a juvenile whale shark. Almost without speaking, the entire boat dives into the water and swims after it. The whale shark swam so close to us that I had to swim out of the way in order not to touch him, as I wanted to respect the wild animal in a sanctuary. The entire moment was unreal--that creature less than two feet from me was one of the most beautiful animals I had ever seen. Even as a juvenile he was so much larger than me, yet he couldn't harm me at all. Of course, I forgot to grab my camera in the excitement of the moment, but I wasn't mad at myself. If anything, I got to enjoy the moment more fully than I could've with a camera to prove I had experienced it. We swam after the whale shark for a while. One of our girls even lost her flipper from a boat engine that was turned on despite the swimmers all across the water.
I didn't really even want to go diving again, my heart was beating so fast and I could feel warm tears on my face with the cool salt water. I had just seen my favorite animal, the largest fish in the world and the creature whose plush stuffed animal version I sleep with at night. But, the dive master threw our BCDs in, and we strapped our equipment on before descending again. This time, instead of the sandy bottom, we saw a swarm of snappers. They were a complete blur because there were so many of them, constantly swimming and engulfing the entire abyss. Suddenly we found ourselves with another dive group and we all kept swimming in circles, over and over, and I kept getting confused as to who I was supposed to be following. Then our dive master points his finger out into the blue abyss, and I try to make out what he's pointing at. Then, out of complete darkness, a figure emerges. I keep staring at the dark figure as it slowly starts to take a recognizable shape, and I see white spots. Once again my chest starts pounding and I have to remind myself that I'm 50' below the water and need to stay calm--it was a 35' whale shark. I start to swim faster than I knew I could swim after him, snapping pictures with my dive camera and completely disregarding the need to keep breathing. I just find myself staring at him, wanting to understand what I was looking at and in awe of just how huge he was and how he didn't seem to care that we were watching. I was so excited that I actually threw up through my regulator, a habit I've never had, but being someone who swears they were a fish in another life witnessing a whale shark will make you act quite strangely.
I think Wes Anderson captured the scene of complete awe with something so powerful in nature quite perfectly. Aquariums like the one I worked at help others to truly see what else exists in the world and builds curiosity and passion for such life. But actually seeing it in the wild and feeling completely insignificant to a life so profound is a concept beyond my limited understanding. This feeling must be what John Muir felt exploring the Sierra Nevada or why sailors were so afraid of whales. This feeling is what keeps people fighting for the environment when it's completely exhausting. The current situation in the Gulf of Mexico has made me hardly able to eat. To think that not only an entire ecosystem is being hurt by the inefficiency of a corporation living up to its responsibility, but an entire culture is now devastated. Perhaps this disaster will help our political leaders better comprehend how vulnerable the natural world is to our responsibilities. Even if it's hard to convince a politician to protect the whale sharks that he has no idea just how beautiful they truly are, it must mean something to see an entire region infuriated, seafood markets and tourism devastated, and an important coastline flooded with oil and suffering life.
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