Down the Rabbit Hole

Surprise Semester at Sea & Amazing Elephants

"Blog City"
DAY 1581- Prompt: April 16, 2018
by Prompt: Is opportunity something that happens or comes to you on its own or is it something you can create for yourself? If both, which one applies more to your life?

In my life I'd had several opportunities that have come to me both organically and because I actively pursued them. More often then not, I've sought out the opportunities for myself, worked for them. It is rare that an opportunity has come to me by pure chance.

Once upon a time I found myself a recipient of a scholarship to the Semester at Sea. A teacher had nominated me for consideration for the program and written at letter of recommendation and support. I was given the opportunity to do a week of scientific research and study aboard a 180 foot teaching sail boat out of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. It proved to be one of the most rewarding and revealing experiences of my high school career. It was challenging, the first 24-48 hours I battled crippling sea sickness and crushing fatigue. Then, as our young captain said it would, the sickness left us as suddenly as it had come upon us. The next three days were filled with deck side classes on sailing, long sessions in the learning in the lab and exciting experiences like finding ourselves on the edge of the Gulfstream where the water turned an amazing 70 degrees. We all were allowed to jump over the side and swim in the open ocean. One afternoon we worked with the other scientists to pull the rafts of floating sargassum weed out and onto the deck and spent hours categorizing the organisms we found living on these islands of seaweed. On the way back, we were treated to a visit by a mother and calf humpback whale. Their immense gray bodies slipped under our hull and out the other side with a quiet grace that left us all speechless. It was one of the greatest, most memorable opportunities that was ever granted, unsolicited, to me.

"Blogging Circle of Friends "
DAY 1978: April 16, 2018
Prompt: April 16 is Save The Elephant Day. Write a blog entry about Pachyderms. Do you have any memories of elephants you have seen?

What is not to love about Elephants? They are immense and powerful yet they can move with astonishing speed and grace. They are matriarchal, with the elder females running the herd. They are intelligent, emotional animals. What is more enjoyable then watching a wrinkled, furry baby elephant chase birds or play in the mud?

Like many of our planet's amazing resources, they are also threatened and in desperate need of conservation and protection. For more information on how you can be part of the effort to save these wonderful creatures, here are a few groups that are doing some amazing work to help:

https://www.worldwildlife.org/initiatives/stopping-ivory-demand

https://elephantconservation.org/