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.

PHOTOS OF SEA STARS BY

These strangely alluring images are from a report by Ludwig Heinrich Philipp Döderlein (1855–1936), a German zoologist who specialized in sea stars, sea urchins, and crinoids. Although Döderlein is best known for his study of marine life in Japan, where he was one of the very first European naturalists to work, from 1879 to 1881, these starfish are actually from the waters around Indonesia, collected during the Siboga Expedition, 1899–1900.  

Excerpt from website The Public Domain Review

RIDE CAPTAIN RIDE : BLUES IMAGE BAND

HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME AT THE BEACH

 

READ THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA's GUIDE TO SEA LEVEL RISE : YES IT IS OVER A HUNDRED PAGES from CALIFORNIA OCEAN PROTECTION COUNCIL

OPC CAL GOV : SEA RISE GUIDE 2024 

What difference does a foot or two make?  Well, the pounding surf, the incoming tide, wipes away the beaches and seacliffs as we know them to be, and my concern goes beyond the destruction of real estate.  These changes are natural processes but climate change may be happening rapidly and with it the destruction of our ecosystems.

SEA SHELL QUEEN CONCH BABY

 

2024 CITY NATURE CHALLENGE : PHOTOGRAPH THE NATURE IN YOUR URBAN : COMING UP IN APRIL

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM LA COUNTY : 2024 CITY NATURE CHALLENGE 

Go to the link for full information. Here's a start:

The City Nature Challenge is an international effort to document nature in cities, taking place from April 26 to April 29, 2024. The global event calls on current and aspiring community scientists, nature and science fans, and people of all ages and backgrounds to get outside and observe and submit pictures of wild plants, animals, and fungi during the Challenge dates in order to help scientists track real-time changes in our planet’s biodiversity and better understand wildlife conservation.

Download the iNaturalist app from the App Store or Google Play

Step 1: Find wildlife anywhere in L.A. County (or your local area). 

Step 2: Take photos of WILD** plants & animals.

Step 3: Share Your observations in the iNaturalist app. If it's planted or taken care of by people it is not WILD. Mark it captive/cultivated!

Step 4: Learn more as your finds get identified. 

GREY WHALE NOT SEEN IN ATLANTIC FOR 200 YEARS DOCUMENTED SWIMMING PAST NANTUCKET : CLIMATE CHANGE

DAILY MAIL UK : EXTINCT FROM ATLANTIC FOR 200 YEARS : GREY WHALE : CLIMATE CHANGE 

Excerpts:

'The Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific through the Arctic Ocean in Canada, has regularly been ice-free in the summertime in recent years, partly due to rising global temperatures,' the aquarium said.

This means that more gray whales could potentially travel the Northwest Passage during the summer when normally they would have been blocked.

...

O'Brien, an associate research scientist with the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, said the animal's arrival off New England serves 'as a reminder of how quickly marine species respond to climate change, given the chance.'

So how can you tell a gray whale apart from its counterparts?

Unlike the humpback whale, which is more commonly sighted in New England, gray whales can be identified by their lack of a dorsal fin and mottled appearance. 

They also sound different; gray whales make gurgles, grunts and croaks while humpback wales produce what is known as 'songs' as it is reminiscent of human vocals.

SLEEPING IN THE SEA

 

USING SATELLITES TO DETECT PLASTIC IN EARTH'S OCEANS : FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY

How do hyperspectral sensors find plastic from a satellite looking down on earth? Science researcher, Robin de Vries, explains...

All I can say is WOW!

Siren 

BOYAN SLAT - INVENTOR FOUNDER OF THE OCEAN CLEAN UP : PROGRESS REPORT : THERE'S STILL HOPE

SEA OF PLASTIC : MOST PLASTIC FLOWS INTO OCEANS FROM RIVERS

NOAA PRESENTS HAWAIIAN HAWKSBILL TURTLES

WHERE IS THE LARGEST AQUARIUM IN EUROPE? BELIEVE IT OR NOT.... GENOA 400 ANIMAL SPECIES 200 PLANT SPECIES

 Known as a historical seaport, why should I be surprised?

ACQUARIO DIGENOVA 

The Genoa Aquarium offers its guests an engaging and exciting visit experience, which promotes the conservation of aquatic biodiversity.

Furthermore, the Educational Services of the Aquarium, through a rich proposal of activities for the school world, experiences collateral to the visit for families, the development of scientific communication along the route and specific awareness campaigns, guide visitors in knowledge and understanding of the main environmental problems.

SEA TURTLES AS A KEYSTONE SPECIES : SEE TURTLES : WORKING IN CENTRAL AMERICA and THE CARIBBEAN : AN EXPANSIVE WEBSITE

"If a keystone species is removed from a habitat, the natural order can be disrupted, which impacts other wildlife and fauna in different ways."

SEE TURTLES

SEE TURTLES is a science-facts website that I know you will find fascinating and take some time with.  You will learn the things you can do to help protect this necessary species of marine animal.

Here are some excerpts from the site.

1. Don’t buy souvenirs or other items made from critically endangered hawksbill shell.

2. Help Heal The Climate: Climate change affects the health of coral reefs which are vital to the hawksbills survival. A warming planet also skews sex ratios in baby turtles

3.  Avoid eating seafood or choose responsibly caught seafood. Sea turtles are vulnerable to commercial fishing methods like trawling, longlines, and drift gillnets, becoming unwanted catch (also known as "bycatch") that is discarded like trash.

4.  Just say NO to plastics! Sea turtles and other ocean life mistake plastic as food and ingest it. An estimated that more than 100 million marine animals die each year as a result of eating or getting entangled in plastic.

7. Turtles dig the dark! Sea turtles need dark beaches for nesting and for navigating their way to the ocean. Light from beachfront development can deter females from coming ashore to nest as well as lead newly born hatchling away from the water and towards danger.

9. Choose sunscreen carefully. Chemicals in some types of sunscreen can damage coral reefs and pollute turtle habitat. Avoid any sunscreen with "oxybenzone" and look for brands labeled as "Reef Friendly" & avoid sprays that pollute the sand where turtles nest. 

OCEAN ECOLOGY NETWORK : AFRICA - ASIA - THE SOUTH PACIFIC and THE MIDDLE EAST : MARINE TURTLES PROJECT

Ocean Ecology Org 

Link to this site and you can hear the podcast by Dr. Manjula Tiwari.

The Ocean Ecology Network partners with Wildlife Without Borders and NOAA.

Focusing on Marine Turtle Projects,  Ocean Ecology Network is focusing on developing science-based  but also culturally sensitive solutions to conserve the marine turtles.  One of their projects is called the Ocean Music Project.  They are a California registered nonprofit.

WHAT'S A BLUE DRAGON STINGING SEA SLUG ?

EARTHRANGERS SEA CREATURES   How many of these have you heard of?  Great photos!

Check out that Glaucus Atlanticus!

Excerpt:   The glaucus atlanticus, aka. the “blue dragon” is a type of stinging sea slug! They actually float upside down on the waves: their blue bellies face up to match the surface, and their silver backs face down to blend in with light shining down. To us, they look like surfing UFO’s!

FISHY LOVE

 

NOAA PRINTABLE VALENTINES for the OCEAN CONSCIOUS

Free for you to download - NOAA Valentines....

Here's the link! NOAA EDU: DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE VALENTINES

ROSES ARE RED

THE OCEAN IS BLUE

THIS SEA TURTLE WANTED

TO SAY HI TO YOU!

WORLDS LARGEST DEEP SEA REEF - MIAMI to CHARLESTON - 6.4 MILLION ACRES : THIS IS AMAZING!

DAILY MAIL SCIENCE : REEF TEEMING WITH UNKNOWN SPECIES  article my Matthew Phelan

Excerpts:  Marine scientists have found and mapped the world's largest known deep-sea coral reef: a hidden ecosystem roughly the size of Vermont teeming with new species.

The discovery was the painstaking product of 23 submersible dives and 31 multibeam sonar mapping surveys, researchers revealed, all in the service of charting the Atlantic ocean's deep-set Blake Plateau.

The plateau's deep-sea or cold-water coral ecosystem stretches nearly 311 miles from Miami, Florida to Charleston, South Carolina. And it's east-to-west width reaches passed 68 miles in some regions.

Unlike shallow ocean coral, which feeds itself in part via the photosynthesis of zooxanthellae algae, and can be harmed by the heat of climate change, this D. pertusum coral filter feeds off floating biological particles, like dead cells and microorganisms. 

And, like a pale cave fish, this cold-water coral is an eerie spectral white.

OCEAN POLLUTION : EPIC RAIN STORMS, RIVERS, and CRUISE SHIPS

As we wait on a deluge of rain, possibly as much rain as is usually expected in a six month period, in just two or three days, as people in various parts of Southern California - Ventura County, Sun Valley in the San Fernando Valley, and Long Beach in Southern Los Angeles County, are asked to evacuate or be prepared for flooding, I'm confident that the home I live in will not flood.  However, these storms always end in pollution being rushed into the ocean.  Two rivers, the San Gabriel and the Los Angeles empty into the Pacific not far from here. Rivers are the way that most plastic pollution enter the ocean.  However, I also believe that cruise ships are using the ocean as a toilet and dump.  I believe that the massive ships that hold thousands of passengers are responsible for killing marine animals both by dumping, by collision, and by fuel pollution.

Intense rainstorms are the result of Climate Change.  Here at Siren's Link to Sea BlogSpot, I use the term Climate Change rather than Global Warming, because I'm not entirely convinced that we aren't actually moving into another Ice Age.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIREN!

Hard to believe but this blog began on this date in 2009! 

FIFTEEN YEARS!

 

POINT VICENTE WHALE COUNT by AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY : CHECK OUT TODAY'S COUNT or VOLUNTEER TO BE A SPOTTER

 There is still time to volunteer.

The whale count is sponsored by the Los Angeles Chapter of the AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY and is staffed by trained volunteers from that society as well as the Cabrillo Whalewatch Program.  They record weather data once an hour and watch for whales from Point Vicente (where there is a lighthouse) from December 1st through late May, seven days a week.

Excerpt: Spotters also detail migratory behaviors observed, including breaching, spyhopping, rolling, courtship, apparent nursing, possible feeding, and interaction with kept and with other marine mammals. Participants also note possible human impacts on gray whales, including boat interactions, possible harassment incidents, and entanglements.  In addition we identify and record behaviors of any other marine mammals that utilize these waters including common dolphin, Pacific bottlenose dolphin, Pacific white-sided dolphin, Risso's dolphin, northern right whale dolphin, Dall's porposide, sperm whales, minke whales, humpback whates, blue whales, fin whales, California sea lions, harbor seals, northern elephant seals, and southern sea otters.

HOW BAD WILL THE SEA LEVEL RISE BE FOR CALIFORNIA? SURFRIDER FOUNDATION RELEASES ANNUAL REPORT ON BEACHES

SURFRIDER ANNUAL REPORT  Not just the Pacific or California...  but California got an 'A'.

Go to the FULL REPORT.  Washington state improved. Florida and New Jersey got worse.

Go to the GUIDE to see what change you can make.

***

Remember that the BEACH ecology impacts the OCEAN and EVERY MARINE ANIMAL IN IT!

YES ALASKA DOES HAVE A SEALIFE CENTER : MARINE BIOLOGY EDUCATION

ALASKA SEALIFE CENTER ORG 

Excerpt: The overall goal of our Science Program is to develop an understanding of the role of marine mammals, birds and fish in the arctic and subarctic marine ecosystems, and to generate scientific knowledge relevant to resource management and policy. Our projects focus on Alaska marine life and environments, but reach globally with international collaborations. The Center’s unique geographic location, marine cold water research facilities, live animal collections, and specialized staff allows us to use a combination of experimental and field research to:

•  Investigate physiological and ecological processes affecting marine animal population  dynamics.

•  Conduct controlled experiments to understand factors affecting reproductive success and  fitness in marine species.

•  Monitor marine animal responses to environmental variability and stressors.

•  Evaluate human impacts on our marine environment and animal populations.

•  Develop tools to support recovery and restoration of marine resources.

HOLD FAST ART INSTALLATION : BIRCH AQUARIUM - UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SAN DIEGO - SCRIPPS INSTITUTE OF OCEANOGRAPHY

AQUARIUM UCSD - SCRIPPS 

EXCERPT:  On February 8, 2024, Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego is opening Hold Fast, an immersive art installation that explores our local kelp forests and climate change through the lens of three local artists and scientists who are using their unique skills and talents to take climate action. 

Guests will weave through a labyrinth of cyanotype-printed giant kelp by photo-based artist and marine scientist Oriana Poindexter, dive into the details of local species via gyotaku prints by artist Dwight Hwang and witness up-to-the-minute kelp forest mapping by Scripps Oceanography PhD student Mohammad Sedarat. 

“Warming waters and giant kelp don’t mix. We have to be realistic about the outsized impact that climate change has on our local Giant Kelp forests,” said Megan Dickerson, Birch Aquarium’s Director of Exhibits and co-curator of the installation. “But at the same time, local people are doing beautiful things. This Hold Fast installation posits that the actions of local artists and scientists can give us hope that together, as a community, we can make collective change as we also acknowledge climate trauma.”

RED CRAB

 

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS TO BE PART OF THE ACTIVISM TO RESPECT OUR MARINE ECOSYSTEM - SEA LIFE and BEACHES

1) I do not take sea creatures including shells from the tide pools. I can take pictures of them with my camera.

2) When I go to the beach, anything I take with me, I bring back out. I don't leave any garbage there.

3)  While I'm at the beach, I can take a bag and fill it with refuse that has washed up and throw it away properly.

4) I do whatever possible to recycle all things that are not organics.  I will check with my city to see where I can take things like old cell phones and electronics, batteries, nail polish, paint, plastics, and other items.

5) I will investigate what nonprofits and other organizations are involved in my area with preserving or reestablishing the marine ecosystem. I can support them through money donations or by volunteering.  (Beach clean ups can be a great way to meet like minded people.)

6) I will choose one sea creature and learn everything I can about it this year.

7) I will not buy sea shells from shops nor items made with them because dredging for shells is ruining the ecosystem too.

8) I will consider where any sea food I eat is sourced and avoid eating any seafood that comes from Chinese or other countries where ships use Forced Labor (Labor trafficking or slavery.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR SEA SHELL BABY