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Clown Fish
Despite what countless t-shirts and souvenirs would have you
believe, there isn’t a single species of clown fish in the Caribbean. I
don’t care if there’s one on the shirt you bought in Belize or Jamaica,
the little ‘Nemo’ look-alikes all hail from the Pacific or Indian
oceans. If you get a chance to do some snorkeling there, keep your
eyes open for them, especially around big anemones.
Coral
I’ve seen and surveyed a lot of coral in the Caribbean, and one
of the first things I noticed about the Pacific was that the coral is
just—well, better. More types, more colors, bigger colonies, more
impressive shapes—a good Pacific reef is unbeatable. Unfortunately,
a good reef, like a good man, is hard to find. Many have been
bleached by underwater heat waves and overgrown by drab algae.
Coral in every ocean is declining for a variety of reasons, so anytime
you come across a healthy, productive coral reef, you should treat
it with respect and awe. Don’t touch, but spend as much time
paddling, snorkeling and diving there as you can.
Open Water
The Pacific is a really big ocean, and there’s not a whole lot of land
in the tropics, especially south of the equator. You can hop a flight
from Miami to just about anywhere in the Caribbean and it’ll only
take an hour or three to get there. But the Pacific—zounds!—some
of those little islands are separated by huge, blue distances. This
is the sort of wide open water that most people never experience.
Find Easter Island on a globe to see what I mean.
Cyclones
Nervous about visiting the Caribbean during the hurricane
season? You should be, especially if you’re planning anything more
than a day paddle or two. Don’t think that Pacific destinations are
Pretty, but does it bite? Bryan spotted this little nudibranch
while wading off Tonga. It’s probably harmless, but in the
Pacific you have to be careful where you wade.
immune though. In the Pacific, you’ll also hear about typhoons
or severe tropical cyclones, which are regional names for the
same sort of rotating mega-storms. If you’re paddling anywhere in
the tropics, or even just vacationing, you should know when the
cyclone/hurricane season is and the likelihood of a storm hitting
your particular destination.
© Biologist Bryan Nichols spent a month near
Tonga and Fiji last year. He’s now in Florida,
where the Caribbean is close and has some great
paddling, but he also plans to keep exploring the
South Pacific. So many islands, so little time.
The photos are his.
Y o u b u i l d . Y o u p a d d l e.
Y o u s t a n d i n a w e o f w h a t
y o u r h a n d s h a v e m a d e.
w w w . p y g m y b o a t s . c o m
PYGMY
r u g g e d
t o p r a t e d
v e r s a t i l e
u l t r a - l i g h t
the osprey
P r o d u c e d b y t h e c o u n t r y ’ s l e a d i n g w o o d e n b o a t k i t m a n u f a c t u r e r .
D e s i g n e d b y v e t e r a n w i l d e r n e s s p a d d l e r J o h n L o c k w o o d , b u i l t b y y o u .
P y g m y B o a t s I n c . P . O . B o x 1 5 2 9 D e p t . 4 , P o r t T o w n s e n d W A 9 8 3 6 8 ( 3 6 0 ) 3 8 5 - 6 1 4 3
Fall 2006
www.WaveLengthMagazine.com
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