Music of the Sea

Lapping to shore at Off the Wall

Music for most of us means turning on something and listening. We use our Ipods and music systems in the privacy of our homes and cars. We go to concerts or hear music wafting up the valleys and hills from all sorts of places. We sing in our heads or out loud but how many of us actually listen to the music of the sea when we are in it or by it?

La Reine Market from the parking lot.

Walking by the ocean on a pebble beach on a day when the breakers are coming in hard and heavy is music in motion. The sounds left behind when the wave rolls in then sucks out ringing all the various sized stones can dramatize all out of proportion a feeling of limitless wonder.

Cane Bay early morning looking NE

Even the gentle lapping against a sandy beach has a soothing sound that can slow the heart and reduce stress when really paid attention to. The music of the sea is constant but its tone and tempo change regularly throughout the day. Those of us lucky enough to live surrounded by water can hear its call daily when we choose to listen.

Yummy squash to make a lovely warm soup

The ocean covers three quarters of our world and has for many of us magical, mystical, magnetic qualities that enchant and delight our psyche's. The ancients wrote about the Sirens of the sea in ways that cautioned sailors to heed the call and steer away from certain destruction. All who interact with the ocean know not only danger but elation when her music beckons.

A fawn venturing out into our back yard by itself. This pic was taken through the window screen.

There are loads of You Tubes with the sound of waves lapping against the shore. Sometimes when i can't hear the ocean here at the house i'll put one of them on and just let it run in the background. When i turn it off its always kind of jarring because the music becomes embedded without you really realizing it. If you've never tried it just google sea music and pick one.

Lately i've been noticing how quiet the ocean sounds when my ears are submerged. It seems that unless i'm swimming right over some live coral i don't hear the fish as much as in years past. i could always hear the fish munching on coral and still can today but not as much. But even with the reduction of the song there are still moments of surprise and astonishment when for the first time i was able to hear the calls of the Humpback Whales passing by St. Croix.

This week was a banner week. Friends have been spotting whales left and right and Monday while swimming out over the wall we heard them calling to each other. This sounds so ridiculous but if you have ever listened to the Song of the Humpback Whale that is exactly how it sounds when your ears are under water. It's beautiful and delightful and this sounds so cliché but it really is out of this world. All of us that heard them were beaming.

This spider and buddies have built a HUGE web under the deck

If you don't live by the ocean don't let that stop you. You can always listen to the music of the sea and its creatures anytime you are at your computer. Put a piece on in the background and go about your business. i'm convinced that when you turn it off you will miss its majesty.

See ya next week