Excerpt from In a Sea of Dreams
“As the awakening tide flowed easily through the reef passage, I was carried like a lover's dream on a spring breeze, weightless, exuberant and free, over ravines and larger canyons etching the face of the tangled coral slopes, leading to a steep undersea drop-off. Laden with fresh nutrients, the current tempted small, plankton-eating fish by the tens of thousands from their protective cover in the coral. I watched several varieties of anthias, largely purple, yellow, pink and orange, fill the ocean with their vivid sunrise colors as they ventured well off the reef to feed. Though gathered in immense numbers, they were not organized in any apparent schooling formation. With twitching, sporadic movements they lunged at nondescript bits of passing plankton, creating a festival of colorful confusion above the bustling coral reef.”