Underneath the Deep Blue Sea
"Every time I slip into the ocean, it's like going home." (Sylvia Earle)
I fell in love with the ocean when I was a young girl, dreaming of all the things I could discover. Like so many people of my generation, I watched Sea Hunt, starring the actor Llyod Bridges, which ran from 1958-1961. One summer, my neighbor had a cousin come to visit, who was from Hawaii. We became "fast friends" and after hearing all about island life and the ocean, I decided that someday I would go to Hawaii.
Years later, when my husband and I celebrated our 25th anniversary, we visited Hawaii (often referred to as the Big Island), Kauai, and Maui. We learned to snorkel on that trip, but we wanted to get closer to what we were seeing from the surface.
We kept returning to Hawaii, eventually living there for over half of the year for many years, making lasting friendships, treated as "Kama' Aina" (locals). We did hikes all over the island and learned to scuba dive, committing to certifications the whole way to becoming Rescue Divers. We spent over 900 hours of "bottom time," shore diving exclusively on the Big Island, most of it in Honaunau Bay (called Two Step by locals). We usually did three dives a day and got to know the reef and its creatures intimately.
Hawaii and the ocean are part of our hearts, minds, and souls; if we could, we would love to live under the sea.
Alas, despite all the warnings about climate change, our oceans and the planet itself is imperiled. Reports are widespread about coral bleaching. It breaks our hearts to see what is happening...everything is at the tipping point now.
*A dear friend, Barry Fackler, whom we used to dive with (along with his wife, Betty), took the photos of coral bleaching in Honaunau Bay, four years after we did our last dives there. We wept when we saw them. *See his photos below.
(Updated July 22, 2023)
ABC's ad 123's D is for Depths of the Ocean.
Underneath the Deep Blue Sea
"Every time I slip into the ocean, it's like going home." (Sylvia Earle)
I fell in love with the ocean when I was a young girl, dreaming of all the things I could discover. Like so many people of my generation, I watched Sea Hunt, starring the actor Llyod Bridges, which ran from 1958-1961. One summer, my neighbor had a cousin come to visit, who was from Hawaii. We became "fast friends" and after hearing all about island life and the ocean, I decided that someday I would go to Hawaii.
Years later, when my husband and I celebrated our 25th anniversary, we visited Hawaii (often referred to as the Big Island), Kauai, and Maui. We learned to snorkel on that trip, but we wanted to get closer to what we were seeing from the surface.
We kept returning to Hawaii, eventually living there for over half of the year for many years, making lasting friendships, treated as "Kama' Aina" (locals). We did hikes all over the island and learned to scuba dive, committing to certifications the whole way to becoming Rescue Divers. We spent over 900 hours of "bottom time," shore diving exclusively on the Big Island, most of it in Honaunau Bay (called Two Step by locals). We usually did three dives a day and got to know the reef and its creatures intimately.
Hawaii and the ocean are part of our hearts, minds, and souls; if we could, we would love to live under the sea.
Alas, despite all the warnings about climate change, our oceans and the planet itself is imperiled. Reports are widespread about coral bleaching. It breaks our hearts to see what is happening...everything is at the tipping point now.
*A dear friend, Barry Fackler, whom we used to dive with (along with his wife, Betty), took the photos of coral bleaching in Honaunau Bay, four years after we did our last dives there. We wept when we saw them. *See his photos below.
(Updated July 22, 2023)
ABC's ad 123's D is for Depths of the Ocean.