In A Dominican Republic Octopus’s Garden

How come we don’t live in the ocean yet? When I was growing up (which wasn’t so very long ago but longer than I like), I was told, repeated by reliable sources like Omni Magazine and the Sci-Fi network of writers, that by this time we would be living in two new environments. One was space and the other was under water in the ocean. Okay, so we didn’t make it into space yet and NASA says we are looking at least 30 years before they even try to send a tem to Mars, but what happened to the ocean?!? I fully expected to be there by now. It only covers 71% of the planet, for goodness sake.

Where is the little bubble cities where we swim in super freaky suits from house to house? Where is my pet dolphin swimming playfully with the kids in my postage stamp, seaweed mown backyard? What about the personal submarines that would whisk us to our underwater office and back (and I bet there would still be traffic)? How come we are not talking about how lovely our seaweed and coral gardens are that we created this year?

Can you tell I went snorkeling today? In the clear, clear water around the Dominican Republic, there are dozens and dozens of coral reefs (or maybe just one giant reef that goes around the island, but it looks like there are lots). Fishes flit in and out of them, sharks lounge in the sand below them, seaweed sways on the outskirts looking like Nebraska corn on a breezy day, only a whole lot shorter. It is all very lovely and reminds me that at one time I had dreamed of living in such a world.

Do you suppose that someday my kids or grandkids will tend a water garden? Not a pond or a tub, but an honest to goodness, under the water garden. Maybe someday, but somehow, I think we will have moon gardens long before we have sea ones.