A Special Moment from Aquarius
By Dr. Sylvia Earle
By day this amazing creature lounges on the coral-encrusted framework of Aquarius looking like a big sofa cushion with eyes. Here she is at night, full-alert-predator mode, dining on fish drawn to the lab’s lights, a lioness on the prowl . . .
Meanwhile, I was with my 5 manly buddies, savoring a few hours of sleep after our first full day as Conch Reef aquanaut-explorers.
If Aquarius goes away, so will the home for the thousands of creatures who have set up housekeeping here. Gone, too, will be a priceless living laboratory, the only place in the world where scientists, artists, poets and others can live underwater, using the ocean as a laboratory — an enduring muse.