Mysterious Worlds at Hand

Moon jelly metropolis (click and zoom to see details)

On a magical morning a few weeks ago, I watched in awe from our boat as a virtual metropolis of luminous moon jellies and other planktonic creatures drifted through our anchorage.

As the long, waving curtain of strange and wonderful life forms pulsated alongside and past me, the effect was like watching an underwater aurora – an extraordinary moving light show in slow motion.

Like all living creatures, human beings are utterly dependent upon the ocean, for the air we breathe, temperature regulation, sustenance, inspiration and so much more. The ocean covers almost three quarters of our planet’s surface, yet despite our big brains, our species has only explored about 5% of it. We have barely a nodding acquaintance with our very lifeblood.

Our beautiful, watery blue planet holds amazing worlds within it – worlds that seem to me more mysterious and awesome than anything in science fiction or outer space. It’s always baffled me why some humans would want to go the moon or Mars, when there’s so much mystery, so much still unknown right here on our very own planet Earth – as the moon jellies reminded me that magical morning.