AD 2017 Q4

“WE WERE FIXATED ON FINDING A HANDFISH, AN EVOLUTIONARY
ODDITY THAT PREFERS TO WALK ON ITS FINS RATHER THAN SWIM.”
We’re off at first light. The hourlong drive ends on a
bluff overlooking Frederick Henry Bay. Dave is already
there, standing next to the trailer with his arms crossed.
He doesn’t look happy. A glance at the 4-foot rollers
smashing against the rocks below says it all. There’s
no way to safely make it past the breakers, and even if
we did, the sea would be soup. For a long while we sit
on our haunches, sulking like children. All of us have
hunted wildlife long enough to realize our endeavors are
fraught with failure. And after so much recent luck it
seems silly for us to take defeat so hard. But we do.
Thankfully we have a remedy for such misfortunes. It’s
back to mainland Australia tomorrow for the last leg of
our road trip. At Newcastle on the southeastern coast,
Team Australia, as we’re now calling ourselves, will pick
up yet another van and head north toward Port Nelson,
where gray nurse sharks, striped blue-ringed octopuses,
giant cuttlefish and heaven knows what else await. AD
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