Wear blue and tell two

For World Oceans Day tomorrow, June 8, I am choosing to "wear blue and tell two," since Cris from Here and There and Everywhere is hosting an Oceanic Blog-a-thon. She's collecting, from all over the world, people who are willing to write something on their blog for the United Nations day. From the Ocean Project's page about the 2010 theme:

This year’s theme focuses on our ocean’s great diversity of life and how we can all help in its conservation. Since everyone has a favorite ocean animal, we are interested in connecting their favorite species with what they can do to help conserve our world's ocean. Pick your favorite and protect it - try to pick just one favorite; it’s hard! We can help motivate people to take conservation action: Together, we can make a difference!

So, on the "Wear Blue and Tell Two"page, it suggests that you wear blue that day and tell two interesting facts about the ocean. So here's my first interesting fact:

Years ago when I was spending an extended holiday in the Yucatan (Mexico), I stayed for a month on an unspoiled beach in a palapa, a structure made of palm leaves with no floor, just sand. My girlfriend Donna and I strung hammocks inside where we slept, and spent our time collecting shells, traveling around the area, and basically hanging out. The beach was inhabited by other hippie types like us, and the locals sold us oranges, tortillas, and other items that we needed. We made friends with other North Americans, and one night, we walked along the beach under a crescent moon, half a dozen of us. It had rained but cleared enough to make a spectacular sunset. As it began to get darker, I noticed that behind us, our footprints lit up! Some phosphorescent creature in the surf had caused the surf itself to shine from within, and our footprints glowed for a few minutes as we walked. It was a magical moment.

Now, that beautiful place is no longer. I believe that the Mexican government has constructed big hotels and now it costs a lot of money to stay on the beach. There are no more crude palapas to hang out in. But I did get to experience one moment there that will stay with me forever.

My second interesting fact is that I am a big fan of the humpbacked whale. Ever since I saw the movie, Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home, where intelligent life from another planet tried to contact the whales, I have believed that this movie was prescient. The former crew of the USS Enterprise travels to Earth's past in order to save their present from a probe attempting to communicate with long-dead Humpback whales. And now, with the tragedy in the Gulf, and all marine life in that area likely to be made extinct for decades, or even forever, who knows what our future holds?

I believe that we are paying for our crimes, and the unfortunate thing is, as seems to be true in so much of humanity's history, we make the innocent and unwary creatures that surround us pay for our crimes, too. Today, in June 2010, the world's oceans have never been in more dire circumstances. If you can, take the time to join The Ocean Project and help to wake up others.
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