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Wanderings...
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If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it!
Jonathan Winters
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It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English—up to fifty words used in correct context—no human being has been reported to have learned dolphinese...
the incredible... Carl Sagan
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That's it, folks...
Thursday, July 21, 2011
In real time, we've arrived back in Ft. Lauderdale and will begin motoring to Maine on Saturday evening... all good things must come to a close, and Sirenuse's adventures are over for this season...
Let's hope there's more...
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Close Encounters... of the Dolphin Variety Part One
Being in the water... about my favorite thing....
More amazing photos by Christine Guinness
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Close Encounters... of the Dolphin Variety Part Two
Being in the water with dolphins... definitely my favorite thing....
More amazing photos by Christine Guinness
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Bow-riding with Dolphins
One afternoon we did something totally new for me, riding on the bow of Sirenuse… underwater that is…. This involved holding on to the front edge of the boat as she motors along.
You grab on below the waterline (not much to hold onto actually, and slippery as well) and position a fin against the side of the boat to avoid getting scratched by barnacles… Also you keep your head near the surface so your snorkel doesn’t get flooded…
That’s all there is to it, except for the little bonus that dolphins are also bow riding, so you are getting a bit of the feel of their fun and seeing them close up… Very, very incredible…
As you may notice these photos are of Ann, not me... she is more of a mermaid, but we both had fun...
After getting these shots, Chris went below the boat in scuba gear, with Tito spotting, to take videos of Ann as the boat passed over her...
She's incredible, that Christine Guinness!!!
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Dolphin Wizard, Matt Stallard, at it again...
Christine Guinness, Photos
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Dolphins and Scarves After Lunch
Dolphins were sighted again, and we returned to the water for what seemed like hours… Sean brought scarves for the dolphins to play with, and they delight in it… There are several great free divers, but in the end no one was really fast enough for this game of tag… In fact, the dolphins took the scarf away with them in the end...
The water, the sun, the light so sparkling… the dolphins so sinuous…
As usual, incredible photos by Christine Guinness
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Click here for an article with beautiful photos and lots of great information about spotted dolphins!!!
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Dolphins before lunch
July 13, 2011
We are about 3 hours off West End on Grand Bahama Island and Sirenuse keeps a look out for dolphins at all times. There will be little diving here as the reefs are not terribly healthy here. But the water is crystal blue and the visibility is stunning. We basically motor about because that attracts the beautiful dolphin creatures, who love to ride in the wake on the bow…
Just before lunch a group of three spotted dolphins come to us—a mother and young baby (no spots at all) and another one as well. Some people on board are great free divers and can really interact with them, but actually these dolphins were just as likely to swim over to any of us…. Something about dolphins always takes me out of my usual perception of my body, and I can twist and turn and kick along beside them just about forever. I’m always a bit taken aback to see how far away from the boat we swim…
I wasn't feeling very well and almost didn’t go, but Sean came by to say he’d set up my fins and snorkel and so I got myself together and got into the water. Almost immediately the mother came along giving her dolphin hello… Such a wonderful sound….
And the baby just couldn’t seem to get enough of people. S/he came so close, so many times, we each couldn’t seem to resist putting a hand out for a gentle touch…
Ann’s friend, Travis Price, arrived yesterday with his 12 year old granddaughter and one of her friends. This was the first time with dolphins for all three of them… what a thrill. I heard Ann saying later that they needed to understand that that was a once in a lifetime experience, as she had never had dolphins come so close in all the years she has been visiting the White Sand Ridge. So they’ve had the best first…
Actually being anywhere near a dolphin in the wild is so exhilarating and calming at the same time… I cannot even begin to put it into words… Even though I am coughing and have runny eyes, as soon as I got into the water, all that just disappeared and I felt at one with the universe…
Photos Christine Guinness
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White Sand Ridge, Bahamas
The Bahamas lie off the east coast of Florida. With more than 700 islands stretching to the southwest. These islands dot the edges of what are referred to as Banks (vast areas of shallow water).The Banks consist of white sand and grass in 10 to 30 feet of water. The edges of the banks are lined with cays, rocks, reefs, and wrecks. Then it drops off to a water depth of 200 to 2000 feet. Around the edges the water is clear and the bank takes on an aquamarine color. In calm conditions you feel that you are in a the world largest swimming pool.
*Adapted from http://www.dolphindreamteam.com/trips/bahamas.html
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The sea, like a crinkled chart, spread to the horizon.
Daphne du Maurier
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And sadly….
We left Cuba on Sunday morning, July 10th headed for the Bahamas, more blue water… and dolphins…
I intend to come back to Cuba… and to stay long enough to become at least somewhat capable in Spanish… That would change a lot….
It is such a complicated place… so ‘behind the times’…and in some ways much better for it… So limited in petroleum products that they grow almost exclusively organically… So amazingly convoluted in every way, but with a warm and friendly population who have become resourceful beyond belief… Behind the US… ahead of the US …in spite of the US...
Hard to tell…
I will remember this trip every day of my life…. And I will learn to dance…
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July 9 Saturday Night Part Three The night that never ended...
After saying good night and good bye to some of our friends, we headed back to Sirenuse. Carlos, Grettel, and their friend Laurie Ann, Fausto (our guide from Jardines) and his girlfriend joined us on board for a cubita...
[It's important to understand that to have a Cuban on our boat even for a coffee requires a written permit. Luckily Sean had done the paperwork earlier in the day.]
Carlos and Grettel don't have much English, and only Sean and Dianna have espanol, but because Laurie Ann, a gifted documentarian [cinembargo.com], is such a superb translator, our exchanges were rich and deep.
The conversation took many turns. Travis shared his book on archetecture with Carlos and Grettal who are trying to plan a studio in their new home. Carlos played for us...
At one point I was sharing that our Cuban friend, Nelson, told Dianna and I that Carlos 'was of the people... He has one foot in the land..' Dianna said the word he meant was grounded, but I found Nelson's choice of english words particularly poetic.
And since we had been talking about the ocean, I also suggested that Carlos now needed to have one foot in the sea of Cuba as well. He got excited about these images in terms of how it could become a song... What is my next step... he wondered.
This is part of Carlos' gift, his way with words. Laurie Ann says that is it extremely difficult to translate his songs into english without losing several layers of meaning. The task will require someone very fluent in both languages, and with an acute understanding of both historical and modern day Cuba. It will have to be a Cuban, I think...
To give us a glimpse of this Carlos spoke about his song Guillermo Tell/ William Tell... the story of the moment at which the son suggests to his father that it was now HIS turn to shoot the arrow... Fausto shared that when Guillermo Tell was released, it became the anthem of his entire generation.
And here is an abstract of an article about this song--deep stuff:
Robert Nasatir, El Hijo de Guillermo Tell: Carlos Varela Confronts the Special Period
Cuban Studies - Volume 39, 2008, pp. 44-59
"The Special Period was an artistically fruitful and prolific period for both generations of the Nueva Trova, boasting a productivity and creativity rivaled only by that of the late 1960s and 1970s in Cuba. In fact, many of the songs composed during the Special Period are commentaries, either subtle or overt, about those early years of the revolution. But the present is not left unscathed. Although both generations express their disappointment and anger, the expressions take very different forms. For the first generation of the Nueva Trova, especially Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés, criticisms of the present are often edged with nostalgia for the unfulfilled promise of their revolution. In the case of the Novísima Trova, there is little or no nostalgia. Rather, and most successfully in the songs of Carlos Varela, the songwriters' experience is represented as a family drama tinged with Oedipal rage for the generation that sacrificed them without their consent."
I may be about to become the oldest groupie in history... How I love this man...
Our conversation went on until 4 am... and very few people went to bed... even though taxis were coming at 6:30 to take, Ann, the kids, and Travis to the airport...
We were all very bleery-eyed then... but what a way to end our time in Cuba...
Photos Ann Luskey
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July 9 Saturday Night Part Two The Buena Vista Social Club
This was my third time seeing The Buena Vista Social Club in Cuba, and I hope to see them many more times... I am captivated by this music...
"Less a band than an assemblage of some of Cuba's most renowned musical forces, the group are named after the Buena Vista Social Club which was a members club in Havana that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s.
In the 1990s, nearly 40 years after the club was closed, it inspired a recording made by American guitarist Ry Cooder with traditional Cuban musicians, some of whom were veteran performers at the club during the height of its popularity. They went to Havana and assembled the best traditional musicians in Cuba to make an album of Son music, which had not been exposed internationally since pre-revolutionary days. Many of these musicians had been forgotten and some had even given up playing. The recording became an international success, and the ensemble performed with a full line-up in Amsterdam in 1998.
German director, Wim Wenders captured the performance on film, followed by a second concert in Carnegie Hall, New York City for a documentary that included interviews with the musicians conducted in Havana. Wenders's film, also called Buena Vista Social Club, was released to critical acclaim, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Documentary Feature" Best Documentary feature and winning numerous accolades including Best Documentary at the European Film Awards.
The success of both the album and film sparked a revival of international interest in traditional Cuban music and Latin American music in general. Some of the Cuban performers later released well-received solo albums and recorded collaborations with international stars from different musical genres." www.cuba-junky.com/cuba/buenavista.htm
As you can see, these are not young musicians... many of the players featured on the album and in the film are no longer alive, and one of the musicians I'd seen in early May died a few days before we went to this show... I would give a lot to have half the energy of these pople... or a 1/10th of the talent... So rich.... and the rhythms are infectious...
My favorite person this year, Mark Spaulding, head of The Ocean Foundation, is an amazing dancer… and after stumbling about with him, I swore I’d learn to dance before our return to Cuba…
Photos by Christine Guinness & Ann Luskey
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