To Live on the Land, We Must Learn from the Sea
Think back with me for a moment to a television show featuring my favorite Frenchman, Jacque Cousteau, and his team of scientists/adventurers on their trusted boat, Calypso. I've thought a lot about that show since we came to Guadeloupe. Even more since we arrived in this marine preserve off the southeast corner. I've always wanted to steal just a little of that Calypso spirit. Just to be a little bit like Cousteau. Today, we both felt it; adventures stir something deep inside.
This place is called Petite Terre, and I think that translates to Little Earth. On the surface we were completely alone in a big ocean - just like Petite Terre. Below the surface, we swam through shallow canyons of stag horn coral with turtles, barracudas, huge stingrays, and circling schools of fish. I saw a 5 foot reef shark dart away as I happened to glance right. Kel smiled as she told me about a stare down with a big fish. She gave way. That's a showdown worthy of a Cousteau film crew. Here, the experiences are so close to nature; they burn images into your mind you can never forget. Nothing is more real. Cousteau captured this magic on 35mm movie cameras. He changed our lives. Imagine what he would have done here with a GoPro and drone.
Ashore, 2 small islands are uninhabited with the exception of 3 caretakers bunking in an old light house, iguanas, birds, and the occasional rat. Tonight there are just 4 visiting sailboats moored in the cut between the islands. To get here you need wind less than 20 knots and a mild sea. You navigate across a shallow reef, in a narrow slot between long rows of breaking waves. If it is breaking across the entire channel you turn away and try another day. Once inside, things settled down and now Iolair is tied to a park mooring ball quietly pointing into the East wind. The Atlantic swell breaks impressively on the reef just 100 yards away. You are allowed two days here, but we'll stay an extra if we can. Maybe the caretakers like wine.
After a great day of adventure and beauty, we settled below and made fresh tuna Caribbean wraps listening to John Denver. I know this dates me and may seem sappy, but the man really loved to sing about nature. Below are his lyrics about Jacque Cousteau's boat, Calypso. How perfect they are. Tonight, I'd like to dream about a long dinner party on Iolair. Around the mast sit John, Jacque, and my loving family. An adventure awaits us all.
John Denver, Calypso
To sail on a dream on a crystal clear ocean
To ride on a crest of a wild raging storm
To work in the service of life ever living
To search for the questions of answers unknown
To be part of the movement, part of the growing,
Part of beginning to understand.
High Calypso, the places you've been to
The things that you show us, the stories you tell.
High Calypso, I sing to your spirit
To the men who have served you, so long and so well.
Like the dolphin who guides you, you bring us beside you
To light up the darkness, and show us the way.
For though we are strangers in your silent world
To live on the land we must learn from the sea.
To be true as the tide, free as a wind swell
Joyful and loving, in letting it be.
High Calypso, the places you've been to
The things that you show us, the stories you tell.
High Calypso, I sing to your spirit
To the men who have served, you so long and so well.
This place is called Petite Terre, and I think that translates to Little Earth. On the surface we were completely alone in a big ocean - just like Petite Terre. Below the surface, we swam through shallow canyons of stag horn coral with turtles, barracudas, huge stingrays, and circling schools of fish. I saw a 5 foot reef shark dart away as I happened to glance right. Kel smiled as she told me about a stare down with a big fish. She gave way. That's a showdown worthy of a Cousteau film crew. Here, the experiences are so close to nature; they burn images into your mind you can never forget. Nothing is more real. Cousteau captured this magic on 35mm movie cameras. He changed our lives. Imagine what he would have done here with a GoPro and drone.
Ashore, 2 small islands are uninhabited with the exception of 3 caretakers bunking in an old light house, iguanas, birds, and the occasional rat. Tonight there are just 4 visiting sailboats moored in the cut between the islands. To get here you need wind less than 20 knots and a mild sea. You navigate across a shallow reef, in a narrow slot between long rows of breaking waves. If it is breaking across the entire channel you turn away and try another day. Once inside, things settled down and now Iolair is tied to a park mooring ball quietly pointing into the East wind. The Atlantic swell breaks impressively on the reef just 100 yards away. You are allowed two days here, but we'll stay an extra if we can. Maybe the caretakers like wine.
John Denver, Calypso
To sail on a dream on a crystal clear ocean
To ride on a crest of a wild raging storm
To work in the service of life ever living
To search for the questions of answers unknown
To be part of the movement, part of the growing,
Part of beginning to understand.
High Calypso, the places you've been to
The things that you show us, the stories you tell.
High Calypso, I sing to your spirit
To the men who have served you, so long and so well.
Like the dolphin who guides you, you bring us beside you
To light up the darkness, and show us the way.
For though we are strangers in your silent world
To live on the land we must learn from the sea.
To be true as the tide, free as a wind swell
Joyful and loving, in letting it be.
High Calypso, the places you've been to
The things that you show us, the stories you tell.
High Calypso, I sing to your spirit
To the men who have served, you so long and so well.
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