Publisher’s Corner
The Sea Was Angry My Friends
The Lester family recently visited Gulf Shores, Alabama where
we stayed at a small resort community on the ocean called
Martinique on the Gulf. This gingerbread house neighborhood
comes complete with eco-friendly golf carts so vacationers
will not drive their cars from their rental homes to the beach
access. Our rental house, called Sandpiper, backed up to the
Bon Secour Wildlife area which offered us a wonderfully natural
setting. Every evening after a gorgeous sunset, five or six
tiny bright green tree frogs would strategically take their
positions on the front porch waiting for some unsuspecting
insect to come flittering by the porch light. A snake, no
larger than a pencil, also made its nightly sojourn to the
porch and coiled itself next to the porch chair leg - which
was fashioned much the same as the coiled snake. My wife Niki
said the small snake thought the chair foot was its mother.
By dawn all the well fed critters were gone again - a few
less bugs on the planet. Our destination every day was the
ocean. The waves, the salt water and yes, the occasional jellyfish.
It’s just not a real trip to the gulf until you’ve
had your first jellyfish sting. Most stings are just temporary
and bothersome, but some leave a noticible welt. After a round
or two of golf at one of the many area golf courses in the
Gulf Shores area (all of which are rated as Audubon friendly
& protected ), I would meet my family on the beach. With
one daughter about to be a senior in high school, we know
this could be our last real family vacation for a while. So
our time at the beach is even more memorable. I am taunted
out into the deeper water by my two daughters where the waves
are larger and crashing over the outer sand bar. I make my
way out from the beach as the surf rises to meet me. Suddenly
a mighty swell creates a giant 3-foot tsunami that I see coming
at the last minute. I am able to turn my back just in time
to protect my vitals as the monstrous wave crashed against
my backside sending me to the ocean floor four feet beneath
me. I suddenly realized I had forgotten to take my glasses
off. And they were certainly off now. I stood up in the sea
foam and screamed to my daughters and wife just yards away
now. “My glasses, I lost my glasses.” And keep
in mind that I cannot drive or pretty much see without them.
The surf continued to pound as I looked down into the choppy
water. My family took off in the direction of the current
sure the spectacles had drifted toward the shore. I stood
in my place helpless in the thought that my vacation was now
completely ruined. Like a buoy I just stood there bobbing
in the ocean helplessly looking for a needle in a haystack.
The sea was angry my friends. I suddenly looked down and with
blurred vision I thought I saw my glasses on the ocean floor.
I reached down quickly as I was now in waist high water. Just
as I reached I was knocked over by another cruel wave. I dove
in and fought the current as I reach out, dodging jellyfish
and sand swells. My fingers groping in the murky water until
I somehow grabbed my soggy specks with my eyes closed tight.
I stood up in the ocean and gave out a triumphant wail. My
family now some 100 yards down the beach were amazed. It was
a miracle of sorts my friends. What are the odds. Another
man versus the sea saga sure to rival anything Herman Melville
could contrive.
Later as I stood on the beach with my glasses now wiped clean
and my vision clear. I looked out at the water’s horizon.
I counted 12 oil rigs in the distance. And I wondered why
we would want to build more platforms when we have the technology
to harness renewable sources like the wind, sun and water.
Perhaps we all need our glasses cleaned.
To Find out more about renewable energy, please attend the
Green Homes & Renewable Energy Festival & Green House
Tour September 27 & 28. The Healthy Planet is a proud
sponsor of this event. See pages 6 & 7. J.B. Lester, Publisher
