An Upwelling of Life

Native tribes called the Sonoma Coast the “place of churning waters.” The mighty Pacific never stops splashing, crashing, snaking into fissures, wearing away cliffs, grinding rocks into stones, stones into pebbles, pebbles into sand. But the force that parts the seas and moves the waters comes from the wind, which propels the seasonal explosion of life known as Upwelling.

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A Rainbow of Wildflowers: Beyond Beauty

In Greek mythology Iris, goddess of rainbows, carried messages along multi-colored arcs from deities on high to the underworld. Every Spring her namesake blooms usher in a cavalcade of wildflowers that splash shimmering colors upon the earth.   Their gifts extend far beyond beauty. In addition to attracting pollinators that ensure survival of their species, Spring’s living rainbows enrich the environment in distinctive ways.

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The Amazing Journey of By-the-Wind Sailors

Years ago I learned to sail by the wind on a 26-foot sloop in San Francisco Bay. After the initial terror, I came to relish the exhilaration of skimming across the water, rocketed by gusts and tugged by currents. At times I’d imagine endlessly drifting on the open sea with the sun and the stars as my only companions.

Velella velella (from the Latin for “veil”), commonly known as “by-the-wind sailors,”  live this fantasy. Ancient mariners found in oceans around the world, they have no need for seaworthy vessels. They are shaped like exquisite toy sailboats.

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Splendor in the Seagrass

“Let’s meet in Bodega Bay,” the seagrass researcher suggested. It wasn’t until I saw him waving from thigh-high waters that I realized he literally meant in the bay. Since that soggy first encounter, I’ve acquired both waterproof waders and a deep respect for an overlooked, underappreciated and vitally important marine habitat. Seagrass may, in fact, be a silent savior of the ocean—and the planet.

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The Wonders of Whales

“Do you know what whale breath smells like?”

Our captain doesn’t wait for a reply.

“Rotten broccoli!” he bellows as a humpback spouts a few yards from our boat.

Awed by its size and unexpected stench, I almost forget that these majestic giants are, like us, air-breathing, warm-blooded, baby-nursing mammals. But unlike us, some whales have bodies as long as two school buses, tongues that weigh as much as an elephant and hearts the size of a small car, with an aorta (main artery) wide enough for a human to slide through.

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The Magic of Nature’s Vanishing Act

They appear like mirages in the dark of winter, burst into full-throated glory in Spring and fade away with the summer sun. Vernal ponds remind me of Brigadoon, the Scottish village in the classic musical that comes to life for one day every hundred years.  The first time I came upon a gleaming pond in a field that had been dry just weeks before, I was as stunned as if a bag-pipe-playing Highlander had suddenly materialized.

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Lords of the Tides

The King Tide comes to conquer. Amid fury, foam and thunderous claps, its forces roar on shore and devour everything in their path. White-fringed waves swirl across jetties, smash against cliffs, engulf beaches, inundate mudflats, pummel piers. The unstoppable invader extends its watery domain so high that it seems to be creating the world anew.

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