Perfection is often hard to place (especially for perfectionists). But as the sun settles over the horizon, its long glittering arm reflecting powerfully across the endless waters, and our boat tilts gently from side to side, the wind still filling its sails..... I reckon it must be here, or very close by, on the rear deck where I currently type, looking out westwards from the clipper Stad Amsterdam.
John sits behind me, strumming his banjo. This is the instrument that he took all the way around the USA and South America on his own 22 year voyage by foot, most of it spent without uttering a word. It was a homage, he told me, to the art of learning how to listen, mostly to the music of nature.
Now his strums gather into a rhythmic beat. Muffled voices on deck mingle with the chords, and a few birds overhead inspect the scene. I wonder what they make of us...
On the horizon, I can just make out a feint sketch of land. We are hugging the coast of northern Spain to catch what wind we can. Our first major landmark, Cape Fitzroy, the headland that juts out into the Atlantic, has just passed us by in the distance.
It was Dirk Draulans, the Flemmish biologist, who spotted our first pod of dolphins which approached from the west. As our crowd gathered excitedly around the boat’s railings, at least 10 of these playful mammals could be seen dancing at the bow, leaping through the surf thrown up by our pitching boat. You could even hear their clicks.
Other pods soon gathered, approaching us from every direction. At one point there must have been 50, maybe 100, dolphins – it was impossible to tell, so supple were their movements, with synchronized leaps, sliding this way, then that, before darting down, and backwards again, to experience the thrill of having another go. They surrounded us on all sides.
For me, this was symbiosis at its most exquisite – a union between humanity and a fellow mammal species, one of the few that grace the seas. These creatures were not here begging or expectant for food, like the pidgins of Trafalgar Square. They were simply here to play…..and to make their presence known. They came, I am sure, to enjoy the thrill of a crowd. To celebrate being alive and to revel in the pleasure of knowing that they, too, were not alone.
Redmond was standing beside me as we watched the playful scene below. “Instead of the sea being terrifying, empty and nasty, they make you feel like you have friends,” he said. It was the perfect statement for a perfect moment.
***
The arrival of the playful dolphins coincided with another game we have been playing on board today. The Evolution Game goes alongside a new history of the life on Earth I have written called What on Earth Evolved? 100 Species that Changed the World, (to be published by Bloomsbury next month).
The game is a blend of snakes and ladders and trivial pursuit (although I discovered to day, to my great surprise, that no-one in Holland seems to have heard of snakes and ladders, can that be right?).
Each square on a 100 square-grid represents one of the species featured in the book. Roll a die, move along to the appropriate square and you will be asked a multiple-choice question about that species. Get it right and the reward is a second die for your next turn. Get it wrong and you’re stuck with just the one.
Some squares have ladders (symbolized by strands of DNA) that shoot upwards allowing you to beam up the board – but only, of course, if you get the answer to the appropriate question right. But land on a square at the top of a worm, get the answer wrong and whoooosh….. down you slide. The aim of the game is to see how high up the list of the 100 species you can reach after 10 straight questions.
So we are having a little competition. Which of the guests / experts on board (Sarah Darwin , John Francis, Redmond O’Hanlan, Dirk Draulans, Katja Phillipart, plus the ship’s doctor Everhard) can reach highest up the board? It’s a mixture of luck and skill. Each attempt has been filmed by Hans (chief cameraman) and Charles (Chief sound engineer). I am told that the winner will be revealed in episode two of the series “On the Future of Species”.
Sarah reckons she’s got about 3% of Charles Darwin’s genes. The question we are all wondering, then, is when it comes to winning the Evolution Game will they be the fittest?
No comments:
Post a Comment