The Ocean

I recently returned from my first cruise. I found myself spending a lot of time on my cabin balcony or in locations of the ship that afforded me a nice view of the ocean. I seemed addicted to the emptiness that the ocean view provided for me. Looking out in all directions and seeing absolutely nothing was amazing. As someone who lives in a community of houses and has a horrendous commute each day to work, seeing absolutely nothing is a rare thing.

However, it really didn't take long for me to realize that I wasn't actually looking out into emptiness ... although that is what I was seeing. My thoughts started to turn more into the activity that was living below the surface. How many species of animals and plant life were down there? How deep was the deepest creature able to survive? What kinds of cures for disease were below the ship that have yet to be discovered?

I guess this really brought to the forefront the stories you hear regarding the amount of money and resources we have spent surveying space versus our own oceans. The oceans truly are the final frontier until some other scientific breakthrough can take us beyond our solar system more efficiently. You would think that if we can make a case for exploring space and the universe, that it would be easier to make a case for exploring the oceans. Perhaps the scientific hurdles to concur the oceans are to vast for us to solve at this time.