This article ran 7/12/2010 on Dane101.com

Brain coral really does look like a giant human brain. Also, if you keep your head underwater and hold your breath (it tends to echo, Darth Vader-like, in the mask), all you will hear is the motion of the waves and a softly crackling scratch that, you soon realize, is the sound of all those thousands of fish nibbling at the boulder-shaped coral that is their food. And tropical fish will just dart an inch away from your face, placid as cows but–in shades of brilliant green or the kind of vivid blue you only see under a black light–much more thrilling to watch…

…What better way to celebrate Independence Day than by visiting, marveling at, and participating in something that is rare and beautiful about this country? It’s my favorite kind of patriotism and a reminder to myself that we have treasures within our borders which are unarguably worth fighting for, be the enemy littering, climate change, or the gushing oil just 600 miles and a series of ocean currents away at the Deepwater Horizon wellhead.

And about that; as tempting as I found it to tell all the parrotfish I saw that morning to flee the Gulf while they still could, don’t mistake this for an elegy because it’s not and may never need to be. Yes, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced July 2 that prevailing currents and winds suggested a 61 to 80 percent chance that oil in some form would eventually reach south Florida and the Keys. And yes, that oil could do some serious damage to the local ecosystems and the billion-dollar tourism industry that depends on them. But for now, researchers say, there are reasons for optimism.

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