This could also be titled "snork=
eling part 2." …
We had another opportunity to go =
on a snorkeling adventure this past weekend. In part, I wondered if it =
would seem anticlimactic in any way or carry a sense of "I've d=
one this already." I needn't have worried.
This trip =
was on the same boat but we stopped and went into the water at two diffe=
rent places. The first place we stopped was just over little bit from t=
he first time we went snorkeling. =
Even though so close, the ocean viewed was oh so much d=
ifferent. Most of all, we were just at the outer edge of the island gro=
ups. That is, at one point we were swimming at the edge of the sea — the ocean itself,=
the big puddle, the whole salt water body that stretches to the Bering =
Strait, the Panama Canal, and the Straits of Magellan.
And, all=
I could think was "wow." All I could see was a swarm of fish=
that extended to the limit of the visibility … maybe a couple of doze=
n yards. The word that thundered into my consciousness was teem=
ing. There were just that many fish. I couldn't help but =
think of the Biblical description of how full the oceans are of fish:
Psalm 104:24-25 (NIV)
How many are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number=E2=80=94
living things both large and small.
After returning I=
wanted to get a handle on what, exactly, the word teeming means so I decided to cross reference it with some other languages. =
Using Wiktionary and the ability to grasp how speakers of other languag=
es view this English word, I came up with the following. The Polish dic=
tionary gives this definition: swarm (of something), abundance (in somet=
hing). The Malagasy dictionary gives the translations 1. To be stocked t=
o overflowing or 2. To be prolific; to abound. The French dictionary us=
es the word "throng." Also, as a colloquialism both the Fren=
ch and Japanese dictionary make reference to the English phrase "ra=
ining cats and dogs."
The English language Wiktionary defi=
nes teeming as "Abundantly filled with especially living things.&qu=
ot; That pretty well says it all.
All I could think about was =
thoughts along the following lines. I've seen what the application =
of technology does to the production of foodstuffs in the soil of the Am=
erican midwest. Imagine the impact of several decades of targeting the =
development of food production to the oceans of the world! I am not talking about senseless, w=
anton overfishing and killing off of species. I am talking about sustai=
nable, large scale development of fisheries production for the purpose o=
f growing food. The oceans of this planet seem to me to have a lot of p=
otential.
Then, after a little while we boarded the boat and we=
nt back to the same place as we went snorkeling on our first trip. It d=
id look much the same as our first visit, but not at all mundane or bori=
ng. There were so many varieties of fishes it is difficult to even talk=
of them all. I think I really like the purple ones and=
the blue ones.
The photographs just=
don't do any justice to what one actually sees in the water. All o=
f that coral is just about an arm's length beyond your reach and the=
fish are just everywhere.
I've heard it said that Papua =
New Guinea has some of the best snorkeling and diving in the world. I h=
ave very little to compare against, but I have to say it is most impress=
ive here. Based on the differences I observed between to very close-by =
locations, I can only imagine the diversity and variety that must exist =
elsewhere in waters nearby.