Seanomads, Chapter II
Ocean, our haven
Seanomads by Martina Schlüter, Chapter II
We call it Nature, yet this term doesn't describe what we discover when we set out. The world has expanded – ocean and land have united. We have been en route for three days and nights and already our sense of time has vanished. Time floats differently. It became unimportant when it was time to eat or what is going to happen in the next half an hour. Everything happens like it appears. Hunger, heat, fatigue; above all the unscalable need to discover land and sea. We search for water and find wild deers and hawks.
We are out of reach of all problems and duties.
The nature around us seems to have emerged from times when dinosaurs were still tramping through the landscape. We climb over massive rocks, jump from one stone to another and go deeper into the cliff. Our guide is our instinct. Up in the sky one kestrel calmly passes. A yearningly glance above and then we continue ascending upon the rocky basins of the mountain. Up there we find sweet water. The water is needed so we head back to the rest of us. In the twilight we see a small group of dolphins pass our small, sheltered bay and we feel ultimate bliss. And rarely have I felt so alive.
To look into a baby sperm whales big eye and see right through to the other side and back again into our selves. What a perfect intimacy combined with a subtle fear, curiosity, respect. The heart beats harder and the brain gets clear. It must be love. I met turtles and dolphins. One lost toddler sperm whale, flying rays and a threesome of hammerhead sharks which crossed our way on the way to Los Gigantes. The excitement will last forever. Just 50 years ago we could have plunged in the blue wilderness when it was still populated by sea creatures. This loss is deep. Right in this moment, in which we catch our breath on the beach, exhausted after a four mile dive along the coast. We are now familiar with the formations under the surface of the water, we now know where beautiful sea fans grow. We swam with swarms of sea breams, our brains hallucinate down there in the deep, sun-speckled blue.
Whenever nature allows us to meet with its creatures we feel at one.
We like to be free and escape the insanity of our everyday lives in society. Nature calms us and brings us back to ourselves. To level zero. Nothing is comparable. Being free without plans means to have given up some sort of regularity and restriction, getting rid of the lifestyle of consumption and the reassuring feeling of security. It’s the way back to a basic life, simple and pure, filled with the fresh breeze of intense moments. Something we nearly lost over the years. Something we are longing for. Elemental. Existential. Wordlessly we are sitting there and glancing to the sea, sharing fresh water and things which once were meaningful to us. Either is alike and never have I felt community this much. I love this way of life.
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Traveller/s
Martina Schlüter
Designer, photographer and writer
Martina is co-Founder and Creative Director of ÁETEM, a young start-up based in Munich which is bringing Seatrekking to the world. Ten years ago she was working in a marine turtle hospital after she decided to leave her office work but finally found a way to combine her passion for the Mediterranean and Nature with her creative work. She is founder of UNIKAT, a small communication design agency based in Munich and loves working in photography and film projects. Recently she started watchthesea.org, a project for Ocean Lovers to sign up for marine protected areas . She often spends her time on and in between the islands of the Mediterranean Sea.
