Beneath the Waves: Celebrating the Ocean Through Pictures, Poems, and Stories
Foreword A day at the beach was absolutely magical when I was a young boy It was a pretty long car ride to get to the ocean and I couldn’t wait to get out of there and run into the water Living in New England that water was always a little chilly but I didn’t care I just needed to submerge myself in those waves The longer I spent in the water or the more seaweed I touched brought me closer to this place that beckoned me to explore The ocean was like an old friend that I hadn’t seen for a while and needed to hug I remember looking out at the expansive seascape and wondering what might be discovered beneath those waves Staring at the sea stirred my soul and ignited within me a passion to explore It seemed to be a place of endless discoveries and adventures and I yearned to journey farther out beyond the water’s edge When I was in my teens I became a scuba diver and then an underwater photographer Since then I have spent my life exploring the sea with a camera making pictures and sharing stories of all that I have learned I have been nose-to-nose with sharks on tropical coral reefs and dived with seals beneath 25-foot 7.6-m thick ice I have spent days photographing shrimps smaller than a grain of rice that were living on anemones and hours swimming with whales that allowed me into their world The experiences I have had with ocean wildlife have been beyond my wildest childhood dreams I often think of my life as an endless string of extraordinary moments in nature I have fallen in love with being in the company of ocean animals and seeing the amazing ways they live After decades of undersea exploration I realize that I have only scratched the surface of what remains to be seen The majority of ocean realms and the species that exist there are waiting to be discovered Given that every other breath we take comes from oxygen created by organisms in the ocean it is vital that we explore and protect it As you read Beneath the Waves you will find yourself on an undersea odyssey with each chapter revealing revealing a rich tapestry of life that is connected to all others Your undersea exploration begins here Brian Skerry Brian Skerry is a photojournalist specializing in marine wildlife Since 1998 he has been a contract photographer photographer for National Geographic magazine covering a wide range of subjects and stories In 2014 he was named a National Geographic Fellow He has published more than 25 stories for National Geographic magazine on a range of subjects from sharks and whales to dolphins and coral reefs Brian’s work has also been featured in publications such as the New York Times BBC Wildlife Paris Match the Washington Post the Wall Street Journal Smithsonian Esquire Audubon and Men’s Journal Brian is the author of 10 books including the acclaimed Ocean Soul and his latest monograph entitled SHARK 7
Introduction ocean planet When we think of Earth many of us think of land After all land is where we build our homes and make friends and go to school It’s where we walk and run and live We can see and explore so much of it from tall mountains to deep valleys from deserts to lush rainforests from rocky canyons to vast plains But Earth is so much more than just land The ocean is vast and except for the slim surface layer it is cold and dark Humans can’t easily explore the undersea world To get even a glimpse we need goggles and snorkels wet suits and air tanks deep-sea submersibles and underwater robots And so much of the ocean remains a mystery to us Yet Earth is undeniably a world of water The ocean covers more than 70 percent of the planet’s surface We depend on it for our climate much of our food and even the oxygen we need to breathe And though humans can’t live under the sea many of our planet’s fellow creatures can The ocean makes up an amazing 99 percent of all space on Earth where it’s possible for life to exist Scientists believe that life on our planet originated in the oceans So it’s no surprise that the seas are home to most of Earth’s plants and animals The variety of living things that float swim and dive in the oceans is truly astounding There are teeny plankton most too small to see that drift with the currents There are enormous blue whales the biggest creatures that have ever lived There are rainbow colored coral reef animals schools of fish that swim together by the millions turtles that migrate from one end of Earth to another and deep-sea fish so strange they look like aliens From low tide on the beach to the open ocean from icy polar regions to underwater meadows from the sunlit surface to the endless cold darkness near the seafloor the ocean is teeming with beings unlike anything we can see on land And it’s just waiting to be explored So let’s wade in No gear required 8
Beneath the Waves The world that lies beneath the waves Abounds unfathomably deep With secrets that the reefs and caves And ocean trenches strive to keep But most amazing is the cast Of creatures who are living there So many still unknown The vast Abyss is one gigantic lair Sharks jellyfish blue whales and all The marvels of this waterpark Inhabitants both large and small Patrol the desert of the dark Submersibles have shed some light On life-forms in this biosphere They swim out of the gloom of night And just as quickly disappear And if you want to see much more Let your imagination spend An hour on the ocean floor Gazing at wonders without end J Patrick Lewis 9
