Nature Wins

Back in the 1970s, when I first lived in the South Carolina Lowcountry, I had a small boat that I liked to take out on weekends to fish for reds and trout in the creeks or sometimes Spanish mackerel and blues off the beach. But nature always seemed to conspire against me. We'd get five days of beautiful, flat calm seas that ended Friday nights when a cold front would move in from some place like Ohio and stay all weekend.

Gradually and reluctantly, I learned the wisdom of the old seafarer's saying, "I'd rather be in here wishing I was out there than out there wishing I was in here." It only took a couple of times of feeling like a cork in a washing machine to get that.

Isaac arrives in the Keys (NOAA Photo)

So when then Tropical Storm Isaac decided to pay a call on the Florida Keys at the same time that I was planning to be diving in the Dry Tortugas 70 miles west of Key West, I had only brief regrets. I always yield to that kind of weather.

Some of my friends seemed more upset by the cancellation than I was (maybe they were looking forward to me being out of town). Sure, I hate to miss a dive trip, and I haven't been blowing bubbles nearly as much as I need to lately.

There is a larger issue in this for me, though. It's all about my relationship with nature. As a nature photographer, that's obviously pretty important.

Back when the weather gods always seem to have it in for me, of course, I was also at the mercy of an employer who expected me to be in the office Monday to Friday. I am fortunate today to be able to make my own schedule. I can take advantage of the weather when it's good, hunker down and make plans to clean my apartment when it's not. Fortunately, the weather usually improves before I have to put those plans into action.

But the nice thing about having this freedom is that I can regulate my activities with the rhythms of nature, which seems more natural somehow. I have long believed that the root cause of human discontent is our separation from the natural world. We have created artificial everything to shield us from the inconveniences of nature, and I think that does something bad to our souls.

Whistling ducks on the wing

I feel more in tune with the natural world than I used to, because most of my activities depend on the time of day and the state of the weather. I am most active as a photographer early in the morning or late in the afternoon, when the light is most beautiful and animals are most active. When it rains hard I seek shelter and enjoy the sounds of thunder and the flash of lightning. When it drizzles I relish the soft wetness on my skin and the sounds of the frogs in the nearby retention ponds. Of necessity, I am aware of moon and tide cycles, and I study the seasons to know migration patterns.

I'm no Thoreau. I'm writing this at 10:30 at night on a laptop computer with an electric light beside me and the air conditioner tempering the humidity. I like my comforts and my entertainment as much as anyone. But I am fortunate that the passions that consume me tie me closely to nature's schedule. It helps me feel more a part of nature rather than apart from it.

Anhinga with crappie

That enables me to be there when an anhinga swims by trying to swallow a crappie or when a pair of whistling ducks speeds by flashing their wings in time with their eerie shrieks. Those just happened to be two of the highlights on Sunday afternoon at a nearby wildlife refuge. 

Which is where I was instead of diving in the Dry Tortugas.