The Natural World Oceans & Seas

When we think of the Atlantic it is sitting in the bar of the Hotel Atlantique* in Wimereux, Northern France nursing a Bière des Trois Monts, and watching the big “rollers” crashing into the promenade - sending sea salt spray high into the air, whilst young couples and ‘Parisians’ in bright coloured oil skins laugh and flirt with themselves and the big waves, and we sit there amused, whilst at the same time as former sailors fearing for those still “out there.”

We’ve watched intrepid Breton fishermen in sharp prowed boats, with numbers in black and white on sky blue hulls, ploughing on though heavy surf, with a heavy following sea, relentlessly plodding out, with the phut phut phut of a single (donkey) engine, the skipper smoking a Gauloises, half in and half out of the cabin, one hand on the wheel in masterful maritime skill, that only time served seaman can master, their blue and white stripy Breton T shirt stuffed under a heavy cagoul or jumper, and all with that “je ne sais quoi” that only the French can seem to muster, oblivious to the danger, or perhaps because of it?

A few miles across the water from France and British and Irish fishermen and women are doing the same as their French counterparts.

The Pacific Ocean gets all the plaudits, but it the Atlantic which is the workhorse of world and underestimated at your peril.

The Atlantic Ocean is vast and it is only when you are standing there at the edge of the ocean that you realise there is nothing between you and The Americas. An Ocean can be a lonely place, and this one covers 20% of the worlds surface or 106,460,000 km, and that’s a needle in a haystack territory. The ocean’s name is derived from Greek mythology, meaning the “Sea of Atlas,” and it is formed in a strange S shaped pattern. At its deepest it is 27,493 feet 8,380 metres - that is seriously deep. Between Newfoundland in Canada and Ireland it is about 2,060 miles (3,320 km) - so be careful on that Swan inflatable toy. It stretches from the Arctic to Antartica and Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. In 2011 we rounded Cape Horn, and passed within a mile courtesy of the Chilean Coast Guard, it is a cold and forbidding place, and a water grave to many an intrepid adventurer. Haunting beauty and underlined with a sense of menace or foreboding.

You can’t help but think of the Caribbean Sea as a backdrop to sandy beaches, palm trees and a rum punch, or maybe a pirate or two. The Caribbean Sea covers a vast area some 2.754 million km² and its islands are as diverse as its landscape from the hills and lush greenery of St Lucia, through to Antigua, who coastline weaves in and out with bays and headlands fringed with reefs and shoals. and the colonial past of English Harbour ever present.

Cuba has another rich colonial past, this time Spanish. Famed for its cigars, rum and 50’s American Cars, and the crumbling Spanish Colonial city of Havana, where you can still dine out in traditional homes (with front window bars and large courtyards to let the air in) complete with antique cut glass wine glasses and 100 year old plates, whilst the soft sea breezes gently cools the hot night air. Just be prepared that the food might not match the ambiance! It is non the less an evocative and remarkable experience, just spare a thought for those on the island who’s fare may not be so good. It can be a tough place to live for many.

Piracy in the British Virgin Islands hit its peak in the so called "Golden Age of Piracy” from 1690-1730*, and this once pirates haven has now tuned into a divers playground, rich with shipwrecks and wildlife. Whilst modern films may have romanticised the notion, pirates were in fact evil despicable people, terrorists of their day, and many of the most successful ones had military / naval training or were privateers, combining military knowhow and maritime skills, with a brutal ruthless streak.

*This was just 40 years and like the equally short Wild West cowboy period 1865 to 1895, just 30 years. But these violent, lawless periods seem to capture our imagination and have become romantically glorified. They would have been terrifying times to actually live in.

Edward Teach was just such a man. Better known as “Blackbeard”, he was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies, and like most pirates he met with a grizzly end, and his head being displayed on the end of the bow sprite of a British warship.

The film Pirates of the Caribbean borrows a lot from Blackbead including HMS~ Peal, which in the film you find as the Black Peal. Blackbeards flagship was the Queen Anne's Revenge. Pirates used intimidation such as flags depicting violent scenes and reputation as much as formidable fighting skills to win battles, and they won many battles simply by showing up such was the fear and terror that preceded them.

When we think of the Sargasso Sea is is not as part of the Bermuda triangle, but of eels. These strange fish, aquatic master pieces of the animal kingdom are able to survive out of water for long periods of time due to evolved breathing ability.

They can also cross land for many miles, in part due to their breathing ability and part to their slimy slippery body which enables them to reduce friction on land which enables them to make their way into lakes and rivers many miles inland.

Like many animals and fish they are in trouble due to mankind’s over exploitation and destruction of habitat and pollution.

The Sargasso Sea is a region of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents forming the Ocean, and unlike every other sea it is an oddity in that it had no land boarders and sits entirely within the ocean.

It is pretty deep too at a mean 5000m depth.

It is an an important migratory route and feeding ground for a number of species, including the sadly now endangered European eel, which migrate 1000’s of miles to this area on one last epic journey to breed. The journey to the Sargasso Sea, is one of the most impressive feats of animal migration.

We now know that all European eels (Anguilla Anguilla) and American eels (Anguilla Rostrata) originate from the Sargasso Sea, where as adults they make a journey of a lifetime to mate (once) and give birth to leptocephalus or eel larvae in the Sargasso Sea. After this like salmon they die.

So each eel and each salmon we take - takes out a once in a life time reproductive capacity, and this reductions left both these species in critically endangered state as we have killed too many, and we don’t know when to stop.

The eel larvae are willow leaf-shaped and drift along ocean currents., as “glass eels” The European eel drifts eastward to Europe, while the American eel goes westward, where using their unique attributes they make their way across land to populate rivers and lakes; absolutely remarkable really when you think about it.

The Sargasso Sea which also forms part of the infamous Bermuda Triangle, where a number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances?