Long Beach, California. He was an onstage presenter and narrated the wondrous exhibits in some of the largest and most interesting habitats in the aquarium. One day in July, he was speaking to a large group of guests about the Tropical Pacific exhibit. The exhibit, made to look like an exotic lagoon, was home to thousands of brilliantly colored fish from the coral shores of the islands of Palau. Gary’s voice, as always, was soothing and pleasant. He welcomed visitors to a habitat that contained, “. . . three hundred and fifty thooouuusand gallons of real sea water. The water this afternoon is a balmy seventy-eight degrees . . . just as these magnificent creatures like it.”
With poetic detail, he described the beautiful swimming patterns of the zebra sharks and the black-tipped reef sharks. He pointed out a male and female Napoleon wrasse and noted, “Just look at him with those gorgeous big ol’ blue lips and her with the fiery peachy-yellow ones. What a lovely couple!” He talked about the porcupine fish and the strange defensive habits of the puffer family to which it belonged, then segued into a description of the trigger family of fishes and the humu humu nuku nuku apuaa of Hawaii.
A pretty young lady in her twenties had been standing next to Gary. She seemed to be hanging on his every word. Midway through the presentation, the woman leaned over and said to Gary, “I love listening to your voice. When you talk, I can picture the animals swimming around and moving through the coral.” Gary usually asked guests to hold comments until the end of the show, but the haunting manner of the woman seemed to catch him off guard. She was pretty, intelligent and seemed exceptionally interested in marine life. “I could listen to you forever,” the woman said. Gary was flattered. He thanked the woman for such a nice compliment, then went back to work.
After the presentation, Gary was answering questions about the exhibit when a man approached him. The man was full of compliments, too. He thanked Gary for such a beautiful presentation and asked him a couple of questions regarding the fish. Then he asked if Gary noticed anything unusual about the young lady who was talking with him a few moments ago. Gary said he did not. “That’s okay,” the man said. “A lot of people don’t notice. She’s my granddaughter—and she’s blind.”
Gary Riedel
Dolphin Seas
Original painting by Wyland © 2003.
4
OCEAN
WISDOM
A ll is born of water; all is sustained by water.
Goethe
A Lesson from the Sea
Until I was fourteen I had never been far from my father’s farm. And because the only water close by was in ponds, the river and a small lake, I could scarcely imagine what a vast sea must be like. People said that sometimes when the wind came from the west, the fields of young wheat looked like waves, but I don’t think anyone where I lived knew what an ocean wave looked like.
Then my Aunt Harriet and Uncle Ted invited me to spend two weeks with them in Spring Lake, New Jersey. They had taken a house there for the summer and thought I would enjoy the shore.
I guess I’d become something of a trial at home because I had more attitude adjustments from my dad that year than you’d believe—maybe one of the reasons my parents so readily agreed to let me go away.
Before I knew it, I was standing on a wide beach looking at the great Atlantic Ocean for the first time in my life. I’d been so eager to see it that I talked my uncle into walking the short block to the beach before I was even unpacked.
It was not what I expected. The waves were easy and gentle, more like a lake, I thought. But the horizon seemed very far away and the air sure didn’t smell like Indiana. Just breathing made me feel a little light-headed and happy. “It’s just like a big lake,” I said.
“It’s quiet today,” my uncle said. “The ocean has many moods, though. This is just one of them.” I heard an odd kind of respect in his voice
With poetic detail, he described the beautiful swimming patterns of the zebra sharks and the black-tipped reef sharks. He pointed out a male and female Napoleon wrasse and noted, “Just look at him with those gorgeous big ol’ blue lips and her with the fiery peachy-yellow ones. What a lovely couple!” He talked about the porcupine fish and the strange defensive habits of the puffer family to which it belonged, then segued into a description of the trigger family of fishes and the humu humu nuku nuku apuaa of Hawaii.
A pretty young lady in her twenties had been standing next to Gary. She seemed to be hanging on his every word. Midway through the presentation, the woman leaned over and said to Gary, “I love listening to your voice. When you talk, I can picture the animals swimming around and moving through the coral.” Gary usually asked guests to hold comments until the end of the show, but the haunting manner of the woman seemed to catch him off guard. She was pretty, intelligent and seemed exceptionally interested in marine life. “I could listen to you forever,” the woman said. Gary was flattered. He thanked the woman for such a nice compliment, then went back to work.
After the presentation, Gary was answering questions about the exhibit when a man approached him. The man was full of compliments, too. He thanked Gary for such a beautiful presentation and asked him a couple of questions regarding the fish. Then he asked if Gary noticed anything unusual about the young lady who was talking with him a few moments ago. Gary said he did not. “That’s okay,” the man said. “A lot of people don’t notice. She’s my granddaughter—and she’s blind.”
Gary Riedel
Dolphin Seas
Original painting by Wyland © 2003.
4
OCEAN
WISDOM
A ll is born of water; all is sustained by water.
Goethe
A Lesson from the Sea
Until I was fourteen I had never been far from my father’s farm. And because the only water close by was in ponds, the river and a small lake, I could scarcely imagine what a vast sea must be like. People said that sometimes when the wind came from the west, the fields of young wheat looked like waves, but I don’t think anyone where I lived knew what an ocean wave looked like.
Then my Aunt Harriet and Uncle Ted invited me to spend two weeks with them in Spring Lake, New Jersey. They had taken a house there for the summer and thought I would enjoy the shore.
I guess I’d become something of a trial at home because I had more attitude adjustments from my dad that year than you’d believe—maybe one of the reasons my parents so readily agreed to let me go away.
Before I knew it, I was standing on a wide beach looking at the great Atlantic Ocean for the first time in my life. I’d been so eager to see it that I talked my uncle into walking the short block to the beach before I was even unpacked.
It was not what I expected. The waves were easy and gentle, more like a lake, I thought. But the horizon seemed very far away and the air sure didn’t smell like Indiana. Just breathing made me feel a little light-headed and happy. “It’s just like a big lake,” I said.
“It’s quiet today,” my uncle said. “The ocean has many moods, though. This is just one of them.” I heard an odd kind of respect in his voice
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