In the spring of 1959 I was a sailor aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer and we were on our way from Charleston, S.C. to Rota, Spain, thousands of miles away across the Atlantic.
The sea was flat as could be, and there wasn't a breath of wind for days. It was so still, calm and flat that you could actually see dust floating on top of the water, something I never would have believed even possible, and when we were about 2000 miles out from Charleston, we passed a flock of Monarch butterflies winging they're way to Spain.
Monarchs are capable of flying thousands of miles non-stop in their yearly migrations between North and South America, but I didn't know this at the time and was amazed at seeing this huge flock of butterflies so very far out to sea. When the internet became possible, I recalled that event and looked it up, and found that a brand new colony of Monarch butterflies had been established in Spain in 1959 that had never been there before.
What I saw was the pioneers of that colony and to this day I wonder how those bugs could have possibly known to make that trip, and what instinct gathered them all up like that and sent them on their journey? Entomologists here and in Spain have wondered also, if there wasn't some original colony in very ancient times and the conditions were finally right for it to be re-established. Who knows?
But it didn't end there. Two days later, still steaming toward Spain, we heard loud booming noises and were treated to the sight, and sounds, of a group of enormous Manta rays playing. These beasts were easily over 20 feet across their wings, and they would leap high out of the water, lift their wing up in a U, and as they fell back would SLAM their wings back down on the water, making a booming sound that we could still hear long after they were lost to view.
The beauty and majesty of Nature has always filled me with love and awe for our wonderful Earth. What a privilege it is to have life and consciousness, to be able to just look at it all.
B****sheep wrote:
In the spring of 1959 I was a sailor aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer and we were on our way from Charleston, S.C. to Rota, Spain, thousands of miles away across the Atlantic.
The sea was flat as could be, and there wasn't a breath of wind for days. It was so still, calm and flat that you could actually see dust floating on top of the water, something I never would have believed even possible, and when we were about 2000 miles out from Charleston, we passed a flock of Monarch butterflies winging they're way to Spain.
Monarchs are capable of flying thousands of miles non-stop in their yearly migrations between North and South America, but I didn't know this at the time and was amazed at seeing this huge flock of butterflies so very far out to sea. When the internet became possible, I recalled that event and looked it up, and found that a brand new colony of Monarch butterflies had been established in Spain in 1959 that had never been there before.
What I saw was the pioneers of that colony and to this day I wonder how those bugs could have possibly known to make that trip, and what instinct gathered them all up like that and sent them on their journey? Entomologists here and in Spain have wondered also, if there wasn't some original colony in very ancient times and the conditions were finally right for it to be re-established. Who knows?
But it didn't end there. Two days later, still steaming toward Spain, we heard loud booming noises and were treated to the sight, and sounds, of a group of enormous Manta rays playing. These beasts were easily over 20 feet across their wings, and they would leap high out of the water, lift their wing up in a U, and as they fell back would SLAM their wings back down on the water, making a booming sound that we could still hear long after they were lost to view.
The beauty and majesty of Nature has always filled me with love and awe for our wonderful Earth. What a privilege it is to have life and consciousness, to be able to just look at it all.
In the spring of 1959 I was a sailor aboard a U.S.... (
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Those were indeed amazing sights to behold. It is something one never forgets or could even imagine happening.
Old_Gringo wrote:
Those were indeed amazing sights to behold. It is something one never forgets or could even imagine happening.
Oil tanker's 1980-84. Amazing sight's on the ocean's
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