Life at the Shoreline (2) - Seaweed

 

So, I made a quick run to the grocery store the other day, by boat.  Well, nothing is “quick” in these islands, but I only had a short list of shopping items.  We live on a mooring ball and any trip begins with the dinghy and outboard.   We dinghy ashore, and walk, or in this case, I went further down the harbor and tied off at the back of the Riteway.  There is an inlet formed by a building, rocks, and walkway, a place where garbage and sea remnants collect. 

These little places can be a bit nasty.  There’s often a smell and the trash can be overwhelming.  The sea remnants often include broken bits of floating seaweed that have drifted to such places and build up over time.  I worry about some of it getting caught in the propeller.

So, the questions started gathering…where did the seaweed come from?  Where was it “born”?  How far did it travel to reach this final resting spot?  …across the bay?  …from St. Maarten, 80 miles to the southeast?  …or Grenada, hundreds of miles away?

Most seaweed is found in shallow water and lives its life attached to a solid footing: the rocks on the ocean’s floor, a coral reef, the vertical pilings of a pier or a drilling rig.  However some forms of seaweed, Sargassum for example, float away and live on the surface or just underneath it.  And, interestingly, the sargassum will collect themselves together, intertwine their vines and pods and form a larger mass of floating life.

The first time I saw a substantial “island” of this was out in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.  Four hundred miles from shore in waters 13,000 thousand feet deep.  The patches of this yellowish/brownish colored mass were filled with algae and other good things that fish like to eat.  In the middle of the gulf, I saw birds landing near the floating islands, waiting I suspect to do a little fishing.   And I realized that seaweed is an important part of life on the waters.  If you’re a fish and don’t particularly care to look for food under say 500 feet, then catching a snack on the ocean’s surface can be an effective way to survive.

So, the Sargassum seaweed makes a journey.  It starts from some shore, collects itself into some kind of intertwining island and floats on the currents.  And eventually the journey ends…at some other shore.

It can easily be broken into smaller clumps by the bow of a boat or a buoy, and eventually into individual strands as it floats its way to some alcove or rock outcropping, or sandy beach, or concrete walls… And there it eventually disintegrates.  I’m not sure what the half-life of floating seaweed is, but I’m pretty sure it’s less than Uranium 235.

The cycle of seaweed life.  From birth and clinging to something solid…to letting go and floating away… to making a journey and fulfilling a purpose…to eventually landing and sometimes becoming a nuisance…  and disintegrating and disappearing.  Now this may not be the cycle for all of life.  But it is a part of God’s cycles and a good one, when we come to a peaceful conclusion.

The seaweed by the Riteway grocery isn’t exactly trash.  Its days of floating are numbered…its trip is over, there’s no place else to go.  It’s a reality of life at the shoreline and a reminder of the seasons God gives us in this life.

(PS.  A dear friend, Rev. Dr. Fred Ryle of Weatherford, Texas died on Sunday morning.  I will miss being part of the gathered community this coming Saturday.  And while I wouldn’t ever say that Fred “floated” on his journey, he did serve the church and God with good purpose.  He spent this last year in a rehab center after suffering a stroke, unable to speak a word.  We hoped for a better day but saw the signs of a diminishing life.  I am sad for his passing and grateful for his living.  Thankfully, he came to a peaceful conclusion.  This is for you, brother.)