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OCEAN Magazine VOLUME 6

Winter 2009, Issue 21
   Atlantic Winter by Tom Sheehan

   For As Long As the Sun Shines by Diane Buccheri

   Worlds Apart by Lance Willis

   Atlantis Research Cruise by Andrea Applebee

   Taurus and Libra by Richard Leonard

   Mercurial Water by Robin Lattanzio

   Lucky Fools by Ruth Hill

   Woe Betide the Villainous Crown by John Thomas Clark

   Nimpkish by Joy Ehle

   Shark Concerns by Felix Leander, Oceanic Dreams and Patric Douglas, Shark Diver

   West Coast Salmon Disappearing Act by Cat Campbell

   LAKE MATTAMUSKEET CD Review

   When I was a Kid by Melba Milak

   The Elusive Photo by Nancy Dickeman


"It rocketed America’s 1969 astronauts to the moon. Stars are primarily made of it. The sun consumes 600 million tons of it every second. It’s so light it floats out of our atmosphere yet it’s the most abundant element in the earth’s crust. It’s the simplest element we know of with one proton orbiting around one electron in each atom. The sun is a ball of hydrogen and helium gases. In its core, hydrogen atoms fuse, forming helium gas that radiates energy into space, glowing out from its center. The sun’s radiant energy sustains life on earth, providing light and warmth, causing plants to grow through photosynthesis, causing the wind to blow and rain to fall. This lightest, most flammable, non-toxic gas on earth can be utilized to fulfill all of our energy needs, cleanly, with no harmful waste, producing only water as its byproduct. " In FOR AS LONG AS THE SUN SHINES Diane Buccheri discusses hydrogen as the best alternative energy source.

"Thermophiles are representations of earth’s earliest life forms,” says Dr. James Holden, a microbiologist from the University of Massachusetts. "Some scientists believe that life on this planet began billions of years ago in hydrothermal vents just like the ones we see now, and that every organism on earth –– including humans –– evolved from thermophilic bacteria, he said." And, "If life on earth arose from chemosynthetic bacteria living in hot springs billions of years ago, where did the bacteria come from? Comets or asteroids?" Lance Willis explores the answer to the origin of life aboard Atlantis, a research vessel.

Guest passenger Andrea Applebee goes where fewer people have gone before –– deep down to the bottom of the ocean. From Atlantis, the submersible research vessel Alvin takes her down to one of the most secret places on earth, where fewer people have been than outer space. "I sunk a long time and saw firefly-like bioluminescent creatures float by, and we crawled along the mud and basalt floor to brightly painted benchmarks and took measurements, seeing seastars and cucumbers and tubeworms blue glowing and frail under all that water . . ."

" . . . with the moon blazing between us freezing us with its brightness eclipsing the past (and the future); and like the lunar ocean we were lifted and dropped . . ." Poet Richard Leonard describes meeting a woman from his long ago past in his living room.

Having met at age fourteen, and married at age eighteen, they raised five children and ran a successful business. After thirty years, finally, Robin Lattanzio and her husband were free to travel. “I can’t do this anymore,” he said. “It’s over. I want a divorce.” A wave washes over her, tumbles her on the ocean's floor. "Dazed, I lay on the beach crying. The sun still shines in the cloudless blue sky. The waves lap at the shore. I rise cautiously, freeing myself from the ocean detritus. I forgive the sea. I forgive him. I forgive myself."

"Then we were inside the ocean, hearing it, seeing it, smelling it, tasting it, breathing it, feeling it, frightened of it, adoring it, embracing it, thriving on it, dependent on its mercy, knowing it had no feelings." Ruth Hill, her husband, and two children "found the beginning and the end of ourselves. We used all our wits and strengths, but in the end, we were just lucky fools" on the journey of their lifetime. "Just a boy and a girl child, growing up wild, two adults who know what freedom means . . . Downwind with dolphins we fly."

For the Adélie penguins, "trouble loomed" when B-15, a floe of ice, broke off the Ross Sea ice shelf. Blocked from their breeding grounds, poet John Thomas Clark tells us they paddled to safety and survival by the South Pole.

Sailing off the coast of British Columbia, Joy Ehle realizes "There is probably a more scientific theory about the evolution of the orca, but I prefer Tlingit folklore." She swims with a killer whale who befriends her and learns the truth of the legend.

Sharks have been swimming the earth’s ocean for about 450 million years, before vertebraes and before many plant populations colonised the continents. Now, many shark populations are in rapid decline. "Time is a luxury that sharks are in short supply of," says Patric Douglas, CEO, www.sharkdiver.com. Felix Leander of Oceanic Dreams says of the people who care about sharks, "Too many people have their own agendas and are just using sharks and their misfortune as an opportunity to springboard themselves to 'fame'. If everyone’s agenda was to save sharks, sharks would be safer today." Freediver Derek Heasley's shark photograph lends grace to their accusations.

Where have the west coast salmon gone? California native Cat Campbell discusses the reasonings behind their disappearing act. Despite inconclusive research and answers, "The salmon declines have spread awareness that ocean conservation and the health of freshwater rivers that run to it, are critical issues with widespread effects."

Long ago North Carolina's largest natural lake was drained, over and over again, from its original 120,000 acres, to 55,000, to emptiness when the lake bed, with some of the most nutrient rich soil in the world, became desirable for farming, and desirable for the North Carolina economy. To combat the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt employed his Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) with the development of Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge and again it became home to 1,000s of migratory birds as it had been since before recorded history. And thanks to the Mattamuskeet Foundation, now it is a place where people can visit to enjoy and learn from nature.

"When I was a kid I lived by a lake. It was Grand Lake in Celina, Ohio –– a small town of about five thousand people near the western edge of the state in the middle of the corn and wheat fields. Grand Lake was constructed in 1837 as a feeder reservoir for the Miami-Erie Canal system by seventeen hundred men who worked from sunrise to sunset digging it –– for thirty cents and a jigger of whiskey (thought to prevent malaria) each day." Later, it was from the ocean Melba Milak came to better understand and appreciate the lake.

Driving from "the eastern Washington desert to the Oregon coast summer after summer" Nancy Dickeman and her family, past and present, sought the Pacific's coast. Facing her mother's death and her son's illness, "There is the ocean, turning us back to each other, and turning us around time and again: holding us in the tide’s keeping."


Take a Look at OCEAN Winter 2009







  Spring 2009, Issue 22
   Visions, The Conservation Photography of Neil Ever Osborne by Diane Buccheri

   Sea Turtles, Baja California, Mexico seeturtles.org Travelogue by Wallace J. Nichols

   Ancient Race to the Sea by Lucille Dettor

   Harbor Seal Healing by C.J. Bahnsen

   Sea Glass Jewelry by Diane Buccheri

   Sea Glasses by Diane Buccheri

   Neither Yet This Morning Have I Seen You, Nor Now by Tom Sheehan 

   Circumnavigating the Galápagos of the North by Chuck Graham

   Slipping Through the Surf by Amy Bernays

   In memoriam gemini mei by Murray Alfredson

   Meditation in Mist by Diane Buccheri

   A Capital Idea by John Thomas Clark

   The Jet 14i by Matthew Goldman

   Stomping on the Sand by Melba Milak


“'A single voice collectively heard as a symphony of many has strength in communicating a message of conservation.' Light, composition, and one moment come together to make an iconic image for conservation photographer Neil Ever Osborne. With that he tells a story, an intimate one that touches the hearts of viewers and remains in their minds. His vision becomes theirs. A series of related images gives many connected perspectives. With these he tells a longer, wider story, simple and unique, singing its tale, its essence blossoming and reaching out to its audience." With his photography Neil Ever Osborne documents and communicates his scientific experience of an environment or animal and hopes to inspire proactive conservation of biology and ecology.

"We call it “full immersion conservation tourism” and the idea is to connect great human experiences with ocean wildlife to saving these amazing animals and the special places they need. On our June expedition, we visited some of the important places where our partner organizations are working on the front lines to save sea turtles and their habitat. Our visit supported their work financially and helped grow the conservation tourism efforts that provide economic alternatives to fishermen and poachers. Ocean Revolution’s seeTURTLES.org Project has direct impacts on efforts to protect green turtles and the larger Bahia Magdalena ecosystem. It’s a sure cure for Nature Deficit Disorder, a truly memorable vacation, and part of the solution for bringing an endangered sea turtle back from the brink of extinction." (SEE TURTLES by Wallace J. Nichols)

"Suddenly the stewards whispered to each other. We drew close so we could hear. One pointed to a spot in the prepared site, where we could see a tiny head emerge. It was the size of a pea! Small black eyes looked around, seeing this new world. A neck and body began to appear, then two flippers and a shell, finally two more flippers and a tail. It was a newly hatched loggerhead turtle, about an inch from its tiny nose to the tip of its tail. As we watched, another head emerged, and then another and the sand began to roil as if being stirred by an invisible spoon. The ancient ritual had begun." (ANCIENT RACE TO THE SEA by Lucille Dettor)

Our heads break the surface and she bottles there, only her heart-shaped nose and gentle eyes above water. Her nostrils open and pinch shut as she processes air. I bob in wave rhythm with her, sometimes dipping my face underwater to look at her body hanging motionless, impervious to the refraining surge. The seal’s gaze fires a dopamine rush in my head and elevates my heart rate. Time looks away as we levitate in this blue-green patch. It is exquisite to be in her presence, a baptismal unwiring from humankind. After who knows how long, she slips her head under and banks home, down, down, down and away. A part of me rides with her, a part of me that never does make it back. (HARBOR SEAL HEALING by C.J. Bahnsen)

"Grandmother Mimi knew how to make something beautiful from nothing special. Their summertime ramblings and discoveries on the beach made a lasting impression upon Danielle . . . With her jewelry made from her vast collection, Danielle shares her memories and honors her grandmother. She too, creates beauty from something that was once almost nothing." Danielle Renée hand wraps sea glass pendents, carefully chosen and unaltered from nature’s crafting, and finishes with a wave design she uniquely creates for every necklace, bracelet, and set of earrings.

"Greens, blues, brown, clear, white, seafoam, jade, gray, black, pink, peach, amber, yellow, red, orange –– these are the colors of sea glass. Bottles, jars, vials, glasses, plates, pitchers, vases, ash trays, windows, windshields, art glass, electrical insulation and other electrical applications –– these become sea glass. Broken and tumbled in the ocean, the working of salt water, sand, rocks, currents, and waves frosts and smooths them, taking their shine and sharp edges." (SEA GLASSES by Diane Buccheri)

"Mazed miracles of kelp, odd bottles fogged with mysteries, banquet quantities of sea clams, littered the beach after last night’s storm. If we argue, neither this nor that, neither what nor how, will we have such residue, such remnant, will love’s debris be so graced?" (NEITHER YET THIS MORNING HAVE I SEEN YOU, NOR NOW by Tom Sheehan)

"I am focusing on the dark, cobalt blue ripples of relentless wind shear. Each time they appear, I lean forward in my kayak. With a death grip on my paddle, I brace for the impending slam. A constant northwest wind howls over Channel Islands National Park, off Santa Barbara, California, which gains in intensity as it funnels through each drainage canyon. The wind shear ripples like a bait ball of sleek silverfish breaching the surface. Each time a gust hits, my paddle is nearly ripped from my grip as the sea threatens to capsize me. I fight to stay on course –– Jolla Vieja Canyon –– located on the backside of Santa Rosa Island." (CIRCUMNAVIGATING THE GALÁPAGOS OF THE NORTH by Chuck Graham)

"Those we love have greatest power to wound; and brother you have hurt me sorely. Not yet old, you had no need to die . . ." (IN MEMORIAM GEMINI MEI by Murray Alfredson)

"It’s dark and I drift, unaware. Light . . . gentle, not yet ripe, a chiffon veil in the night. Morning rising, filling the darkness. Filling me, full. Gently." (MEDITATION IN MIST by Diane Buccheri)


Take a Look at OCEAN Spring 2009






Summer 2009, Issue 23

   A Sea of Plastic by Diane Buccheri

   Brute Immersion Upon  Reflection by Tom Sheehan

   Diving with Sharks by Steve Hutchings for Shark Diver

   Dolphins Wild and Tame by James Michael Dorsey

   Dolphin Song by Marlene Moon

   David Sutton Phelps by Diane Buccheri

   Growing Up Wild Part II by Ruth Hill

   Osprey by Thomas J. Vetter

   Stones by Carolyn Blake

   Beach Glass and other Things by Angie Ledbetter
   
   When I Get the Blues by Melba Milak

   The Light Within the Darkness by Tom Watson

   Rapa Nui by MariJo Moore

   Secret of the Sea by Kathy Parra


Plastic leaks toxins. And it lasts forever, leaking more and more toxins as it becomes more brittle with time and breaks apart into tinier and tinier pieces. These toxins cause cancers in us. Furthermore, "Each of us in this society discards approximately 185 pounds of plastic every year, much of which ends up in the ocean due to runoff or marine dumping. Fifty billion to 1 trillion plastic bags swim the world’s ocean, or, mistaken as jellyfish, a primary food source for sea turtles, are swallowed, often becoming lodged in a turtle and killing it. Some bags, and some plastic fishing gear, entangle or wrap around marine animals and birds, most notably whales, disabling their swimming and feeding, ultimately endangering and ending their lives." (A SEA OF PLASTIC by Diane Buccheri)

"While they are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, they are still hunted as both a food source and as fodder for marine theme parks. These animals are a gift. They are among the happiest creatures on earth and one cannot help but be infected by their zest for life in making contact with them. As stewards of the ocean, we can either protect and nurture them, or we can turn our backs and let whaling nations continue to turn them into canned meat or circus performers. Dolphins are one of the few wild animals who have continuously shown their affinity towards man over the centuries. With a minimum of effort we can assure their existence for future generations, maintaining a priceless link in the chain of life, and a friendly connection to the oceans that cover most of our home planet." (DOLPHINS WILD AND TAME by James Michael Dorsey)

"I panic, thinking there are too many sharks around the boat for our crew to handle and that the situation has deteriorated to dangerous. I let go of the ladder and fall back into the cage, dragged down by the forty pound diving belt, and land on my rear end. I’m still struggling to get off my backside, when a large female shark swims past our cage, two meters in front of us. The other three divers clamor to get their cameras in position. I’m still trying to get on my feet. That’s when I see another shark, swimming directly toward me. My heart races as his snout gets bigger, and closer. Just as I’m convinced he’s going to attack our cage, at less than a meter away, he veers to his right and swims past me, and I notice something about him that I’ve never seen in any pictures of a great white –– a purple ring around his pupil. We stare at each other, eye to eye, until he’s past our cage and disappears into the background." (DIVING WITH SHARKS by Steve Hutchings for Shark Diver)

"Those who lived before technology had knowledge, which has now mostly been lost. We wanted to rekindle that knowledge, to find it for ourselves, to feel secure in it, to pass on that knowledge and the security it brings. How far to the core could we pare down? And what would we find? We are not dependent on Wall Street. We are all dependent on the environment. That is the most important knowledge for society to regain. Here in perfect weather, on the provident ocean, amidst useful plants and playful animals, making our own entertainment, having no schedule or owner, we became truly free. We are still free. That was the soul of our journey." (GROWING UP WILD by Ruth Hill)

"The mirror folds in on itself. Images separate. At seven years of age I was drowning! It was simple as that. Water, water everywhere and not a drop I should drink. Cut the crap, I thought. It’s not funny. It was strange, my mind still working, conjuring images, associations, and the pressures coming to bear." (BRUTE IMMERSION UPON REFLECTION by Tom Sheehan)

'"Sitting in the ship’s fantail with a mug of coffee watching the dark blues of the ship’s wake in the Caribbean Sea,” was one of his life’s pleasures as was “Watching porpoises play in the bow wake, enjoying the ship’s library while off watch.” As an adventurous young man, he enjoyed “the exhilaration of a nor’easter in the North Atlantic in winter on a loaded tanker with icy waves breaking over the well deck and bridge.”' (DAVID SUTTON PHELPS by Diane Buccheri)

"With purpose the bird rises. Climbing, slowly climbing, searching for nest. Linking death, life, and a quiet summer day." (OSPREY by Thomas J. Vetter)

"In my path is a small stone, gray and pink striped, a long feather perched atop. The feather, a memento of a life flown away, the stone possibility. Not three steps ahead I bend to examine a light gray velvet stone veined in burgundy, the lavish burgundy of an oriental carpet or an island mahogany. I thumb sand from the stone, turning it until the turning becomes fondling, and the fondling connects us, making it my stone. The stone accepts my warmth, a willing stone responding to my longing. Smiling, I walk on with my new companion. Today, four hours away, Seth will perform a piano concert for a local New Jersey audience. Before the program ends he’ll play Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto. It is for me, the music that is ever new, renewing, exhilarating. It is who I am. I hear Rachmaninov’s stars falling out of the sky and see them transformed into stones, scattered like confetti along the Montauk beach. I look ahead at all the enduring stones, each a unique option." (STONES by Carolyn J. Blake)

"Whitewashed sand dollar, virgin bride with bright desires, untouched yet by man’s hand, waiting . . ." (BEACH GLASS AND OTHER THINGS by Angie Ledbetter)

"My world of music has blues –– blues notes, blues chords, and blues songs. Blues songs emerged from African-American communities from field hollers, spirituals, and work songs. The standard form, although there are many exceptions, consists of 3 4-bar (measure) phrases set over a particular harmony pattern, called the “12 bar blues” by musicians. Blues songs influenced American popular music, providing roots for jazz, bluegrass, and rock ’n roll. The term “the blues” refers to “the blue devils”, meaning melancholy and sadness. The melodies and words are haunting expressions of loneliness and despair; some (but only some) call out for hope and happiness and brighter days." (WHEN I GET THE BLUES by Melba Milak)

"Our boat was afloat as if on a titanic breathing bosom at sea, it inhaled and exhaled on that mighty briny breast . . ." (DOLPHIN SONG by Marlene Moon)

"I stand poised at water’s edge; the bow of my kayak bobs in response to the small wavelets lapping up against the shoreline. It is eleven o’clock at night on one of those early days of fall in Kodiak when darkness has finally started to take back some of those hours that had been relinquished to extend the daylight throughout the Alaska summer. A full moon will rise later tonight and I will be out there to welcome it." (THE LIGHT WITHIN THE DARKNESS by Tom Watson)

"I want to travel to that silence, that insular silence Neruda knew so well. Place my soft body against the hard stones: heads with eyes glancing into eternity, immovable yet moving all the while . . ." (RAPA NUI by MariJo Moore)

'"At that moment, the sea spoke again, “Therese, others will know the secret of their life when they listen to the secret of the sea. When they see their reflection as a reflection of the sea, then there will be no secret to who they are and who others are, for the secret of the sea is simple, it is Love.“'(SECRET OF THE SEA by Kathy Parra)


Take a Look at OCEAN Summer 2009






Fall 2009, Issue 24


   DOLPHIN HEALING –– Dolphins heal people with their sonic beams!
  
   CALL of the DOLPHINS –– Kathy Parra tells her love story with dolphins and how they enabled
   her to conceive.
  
   MANGROVE FORESTS of GRAND CAYMAN –– Donna Mann and her daughters explore
   Grand Cayman's mangrove forests guided by Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ambassadors of the
   Environment (AOTE).
  
   JONATHAN –– Jonathan Livingston Seagull proves just how special he is. Diane Buccheri tells
   her story of friendship with a laughing gull.


   BROCKLEBANK at Warren's Point, Rhode Island engulfs Tom Sheehan in a shroud of mist on the
   edge of land and sea and time, Andrea Applebee lives in her world of ARCHIPELAGOS, John
   Thomas Clark's mother took FLIGHT from her native Ireland and sailed across the Atlantic at age
   fifteen accompanied by a linnet, FALCO BERIGORA divebombs off Australia's Strzelecki Peaks
   astonishing Murray Alfredson, MY CHILDHOOD BY THE SEA tells Grace Poirier's tale of growing
   up along Massachusett's coast, ON CAPE COD BAY Saralee Perel discovers what really matters
   in life, AUTUMN takes the breath of summer as midnight signals closure on Roger Singer's porch,
   and Melba Milak lingers IN THE STILL of the NIGHT.



Take a Look at OCEAN Fall 2009