MAURICE and MARALYN IS A RIVITING SURVIVAL STORY and a PAGE TURNER by SOPHIE ELMHIRST

A WHALE A SHIP A LOVE STORY

Halfway to New Zealand, Maurice and Maralyn Bailey's boat got struck by a sperm whale and from then on they struggled to survive. This is a riveting story of of how much humans can endure. Yes, they were rescued, which was improbable after so many ships passed them by without seeing them in the inflatable dinghy that had become their home.  At that point they were skeletal and near death, though they had captured turtles and sharks by hand and had also used the flesh as bait to catch fish. 

Their adventure began in March of 1973. Seven years earlier they'd considered giving up their ordinary suburban lives, their average jobs, to sail instead.  To do so they would sell their house, quit their jobs,  move into a rental in the Southhampton port area, take other jobs, and learn to sail by making runs across the English Channel and such. They were sensible as they made progress to their goal.  Well researched, Maralyn stocked the boat with enough food, rationed, to last their journey, most of which they would not be able to get into the raft or dinghy when the time came. Maurice studied books on life at sea and wanted to navigate by the stars as mariners had done before there were radios. They made a plan that would involve sailing the Pacific to New Zealand, going to the Canary Islands, the Caribbean Sea, and also the Galapagos. They knew that they would find themselves alone without another vessel in sight for days and would have to rely on all their knowledge and personal resources. They had to believe they were ready for the adventure. Their first stop was to be the Canary Islands.

But the challenge they could not have expected came when a sperm whale, likely surfacing, hit their boat. The sperm whale was about forty feet long and had a tail that spanned about ten feet.  Their boat, the Auralyn, was a thirty-footer. The collision between boat and whale was likely fatal for the whale who was bloody and in obvious pain when it dove back down into the ocean. The hole in the boat below the water line was not massive but it allowed ocean water to flood in. The couple quickly took action to seal the hole but their efforts didn't work. As the boat rapidly flooded, they realized they would have to get off their boat or sink with it. Quickly they got the life raft and the dinghy loaded with fresh water and other survival supplies, including nautical navigation tools. Maralyn managed to have her camera and diary. The boat sank before their eyes. 

The couple spent 118 days adrift on the Pacific Ocean and the experienced challenged them in every way, physically, mentally, emotionally.   They lived to get another boat and sail again.

C 2024 Book Review  Siren's Link to Sea

MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM RESEARCH INSTITUTE : INTO THE DEEP : SEA CREATURES IN THE MONTEREY BAY

 There are remote cameras in the bay operated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium....

The many creatures are named and listed are the depths they are found. Lots of squid and jelly.

EARTH DAY : MOSTLY OCEAN

 

CABRILLO MARINE AQUARIUM 2024 YOUNG SCIENTISTS PROGRAM ICEBREAKER : FIND OUT MORE ABOUT IT!

Interact with Aquarium staff and past participants to learn all about THE YOUNG SCIENTISTS PROGRAM requirements, application process, program timeline, and more

SATURDAY APRIL 27th, SUNDAY APRIL 28th, 2024

10 am to 2 pm

High school Students interested in the YOUNG SCIENTISTS PROGRAM must attend this entire event as part of their admission process.

For more infromation

cabrillomarineaquarium.org/rsearch

https://www.cabrillomarineaquarium.org/research.asp

https://www.cabrillomarineaquarium.org/research/marine-research-library.asp

The YOUNG SCIENTISTS PROGRAM is free, and an independent research program. The commitment for this program is one day a week from June 2024- March 2025.

SPACE IS LIMITED so RSCP...

E-mail: aquaticnursery.research.cmaqua.org

HEAL THE BAY - BRING BACK THE BEACH GALA - DANCE UNDER THE STARS AT THE BEACH

Gala is May 16th....

HEAL THE BAY - GALA

Reusable Is Beautiful

This April, Heal the Bay celebrates Earth Month with all things reusable! 

Every year, billions of pounds of single-use plastic flood our oceans, threatening the health of our planet. This month and every month, Heal the Bay is committed to raising awareness about choosing reusable options over single-use plastic and keeping our waterways clean, safe, and beautiful for everyone.

Fun, inspiring activations are happening all month long. So ditch the plastic, grab your reusable water bottle, sunscreen, and friends for climate action near you!

🌎Discover Earth Month events, volunteer opportunities, and so much more! 

SEA SHELL BABY EMERGES

 

UNITED STATES LIGHTHOUSE SOCIETY : GET A LIGHTHOUSE PASSPORT TO DOCUMENT YOUR TRAVELS

US LIGHTHOUSE SOCIETY ORG 

I don't think I've featured a lighthouse here at SIRENS LINK TO SEA before, but here is a club you can join that has weekly news and it looks to be fun.  You can get a passport that's stamped every time you go to another lighthouse.  The society aims to preserve the historically significant lighthouses.

2024 is the 30th anniversary of the KEEPERS LOG magazine.

Basically, your money gives you some benefits and goes to preservation projects!

Hear FOGHORNS here: USLHS FOGHORNS - LISTEN !

PACIFIC WHALE FOUNDATION DOES THE WHALE COUNT FOR THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS

PACIFIC WHALE ORG 

A recent article on the whale count (lots of other marine animals noted too!) 

KAUAI NEWS : JANUARY 2024 HAWAII WHALE COUNT

Excerpt:  n Saturday, 402 volunteers gathered data statewide from 44 sites across the Hawaiian Islands. A total of 315 whales were observed from 9 to 9:15 a.m., the most of any time period throughout the day’s count.

On the islands of Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Molokaʻi and Hawai‘i, Ocean Count volunteers collected data from 32 sites; a total of 174 whales were observed during the 9 to 9:15 a.m.

On Maui and Lānaʻi, Great Whale Count volunteers collected data from 12 sites during 15-minute intervals between 8:30 and 11:50 a.m. A total of 141 whales were observed during the 9 to 9:15 a.m. time period.

On Kaua‘i, the total number of whales observed during the day’s count was 292, on O‘ahu, the total was 604, on Molokaʻi, the total was 30 and on Hawai‘i 324.

The total number for the Great Whale Count on Maui was 821, and on Lānaʻi was 53, for a grand total of 2,124 throughout the state. This number may represent duplicate sightings of the same whale by different observers or at different time periods or different locations throughout the day.

TWENTY MINUTE CONVERSATION WITH HUMPBACKED WHALE MAY LEAD TO COMMUNICATING WITH ALIENS IN SPACE

DAILY MAIL SCIENCE : 20 MINUTE CONVERSATION WITH WHALE - ALIENS  by William Hunter

Excerpt: 38-year-old whale named Twain 'spoke' with the researchers from the SETI Institute and UC Davis by responding to a pre-recorded 'contact call'. 

A VARIETY OF STARFISH

 

GLOBAL CORAL REEF ALLIANCE

GLOBAL CORAL REEF ALLIANCE - RECORD 2023 MARINE HEAT 

What they do:  Because it directly stimulates the natural energy-generating mechanisms of all forms of life, GCRA’s Biorock electrical reef regeneration technology is the only method known that can grow Coral Arks to save species from extinction. Other coral restoration methods work only as long as it never gets too hot, muddy, or polluted, but the corals die from heat stroke when their temperature limits are exceeded, while most Biorock reef corals survive. The Biorock method keeps entire reefs alive when they would die, providing high coral survival when 95-99% of surrounding reef corals bleach and die from heat shock. It also grows back dead reefs and severely eroded beaches at record rates in places where there has been no natural recovery.

Current projects are now being operated in Indonesia, Bali, Jamaica, the Republic of Maldives, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, Phuket, Thailand, Mexico and Grenada.

ATLANTIC OCEAN COLLAPSE? WHY IT'S SO IMPORTANT

NPR : WHEN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN CURRENT COLLAPSE  by Lauren Sommer

Excerpt: Deep in the Atlantic Ocean, there's a massive current the size of 8,000 Mississippi Rivers. Its role in the Earth's climate is so powerful that it determines weather from the equator to Europe, crop production in Africa and sea level rise on the East Coast.