Page 38 - 2003 - Atlantic Islands
P. 38
DAY 3 - Thanksgiving Day
Today we woke to a Thanksgiving feeling since the temperature is 77 F and the sea
was 73 F. The serenity of the seas continued even though a light rain was falling as we
went aft and up to our stretching class. We had to squeeze in a little closer to one
another to keep everyone, including Gabor, out of range of the drops drifting down
from the leaden sky.
Following breakfast, we practiced our sketching of glasses and bottles of “Evian”
water but without any real success or satisfaction except in knowing that we were
being “good students” completing our homework. We are hoping that MJ will give us
some individual instructions about how we can each improve our sketching
techniques.
Clyde finished his lecture on giant squids at 11 o’clock. It is amazing how much he can
tell us about these mysterious creatures when the real bottom line is that he has
never seen a live one (nor has anyone else). Though specimens have been found in
fishermen’s nets and stranded on various shores around the world, there is more
unknown about them than is actually known. So, like Black Holes and Quasars, a lot
has to be inferred from evidence around them.
He was fascinating in his descriptions of the several different expeditions he has
undertaken in an effort to actually “see” a giant squid in its natural habitat - from
diving in submersibles in many deep oceanic canyons to attaching “critter cams” to
sperm whales in hopes that one of them will locate its own favorite prey for the
scientists to observe. Obviously, the whales have no problem finding their own
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