Fifteen Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Ocean

Children Writing About the Ocean. 

1) - This is a picture of an octopus. It has eight testicles. (Kelly, age 6) 

2) - Oysters' balls are called pearls. (Jerry, age 6) 

3) - If you are surrounded by ocean, you are an island. If you don't have ocean all round you, you are incontinent. (Mike, age 7) 

4) - Sharks are ugly and mean, and have big teeth, just like Emily 
Richardson. She's not my friend any more. (Kylie, age 6) 

5) - A dolphin breaths through an asshole on the top of its head. (Billy, age 8) 

6) - My uncle goes out in his boat with 2 other men and a woman and pots and comes back with crabs. (Millie, age 6) 

7) - When ships had sails, they used to use the trade winds to cross the ocean. Sometimes when the wind didn't blow the sailors would whistle to make the wind come. My brother said they would have been better off eating beans. (William, age 7) 

8) - Mermaids live in the ocean. I like mermaids. They are beautiful and I like their shiny tails, but how on earth do mermaids get pregnant? Like, really? (Helen, age 6) 

9) - I'm not going to write about the ocean. My baby brother is always crying, my Dad keeps yelling at my Mom, and my big sister has just got pregnant, so I can't think what to write. (Amy, age 6) 

10) - Some fish are dangerous. Jellyfish can sting. Electric eels can give you a shock. They have to live in caves under the sea where I think they have to plug themselves in to chargers. (Christopher, age 7) 

11) - When you go swimming in the ocean, it is very cold, and it makes my willy small. (Kevin, age 6) 

12) - Divers have to be safe when they go under the water. Divers can't go down alone, so they have to go down on each other. (Becky, age 8) 

13) - On vacation my Mom went water skiing. She fell off when she was going very fast. She says she won't do it again because water fired right up her big fat ass. (Julie, age 7) 

14) - The ocean is made up of water and fish. Why the fish don't drown I don't know. (Bobby, age 6) 

15) - My dad was a sailor on the ocean. He knows all about the ocean. What he doesn't know is why he quit being a sailor and married my mom. (James, age 7)

Some beadie thoughts on the ocean can be found on etsy.

The Aquatic POV

A fish swimming the ocean

Found a shell within the sand.

He held it to his fishy ear

And through it, he heard land.

Try it.  Aquatic treasures here.

A Starfish Tale...

...by an unknown author

 

A man was walking along a beach when he saw a young boy. Along the shore were many starfish that had been washed up by the tide.

The boy walked slowly along the shore.  When he spotted a starfish, he reached down and tossed the beached starfish back into the ocean.

The man, hoping to teach the boy a lesson in common sense, walked up to him and said, "I have been watching what you are doing, son. You have a good heart, and I know that you mean well.  But do you realize how many beaches there are?  And how many starfish are dying on every beach every day?  Do you really think that what you are doing is going to make a difference?"

The boy looked up at the man,  then down at a starfish by his feet. He picked up the starfish and gently tossed it back into the ocean.  "It makes a difference to that one,"  he said.

Starfish and other ocean creature charms can be found here.

Kind of On Porpoise

THE PORPOISE

by Ogden Nash

I kind of like the playful porpoise,

A healthy mind in a healthy corpus.

He and his cousin, the playful dolphin,

Why they like swimmin like I like golphin.




A porpoise... a dolphin... it's whatever you want it to be.

When the Sardine Begin the Beguine

Remember the song "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid?  You know...

The newt play the flute
The carp play the harp
The plaice play the bass
And they're soundin' sharp.
The bass play the brass
The chub play the tub
The fluke is the duke of soul
(yeah)

They ray he can play
The lings on the strings
The trout rockin' out
The blackfish she sings
The smelt and the sprat
They know where it's at
An' Oh. That blowfish blow

Well, the sea creatures on this bracelet are the ones who sang back-up.  They played the steel drums, too, but those aren't on the bracelet because they're hidden behind giant clam shells.

You'll see the smelt and the sprat, the blowfish, the plaice...  You'll also find a dolphin who sings tenor, four seahorses who are tone-deaf and merely dance like some back-up singers of old, some sea turtles who sing bass, two starfish who just want to be stars, and two Kissing Fish.

Kissing Fish are quite rare and are never found in captivity.  If they were, they'd be kissing everyone and everything, and no one would be able to blow bubbles or swim.

The group hasn't worked much since The Little Mermaid came out, but they've been working on a demo.  It's almost ready and soon you'll be seeing their faces everywhere.

The pressed glass fish, by the way, are songwriters, and a lot of their new tunes are on the demo.  Their reasoning was sound: if they kept singing Disney hits, they'd have to pay a lot of royalties.  Better to perform their own work.

So keep an eye out for them.  (The porcelain dolphin is handling PR.)

Tale of the Green Whale

You've heard of the Blue Whale, the Humpback, the Orca,
And those tiny whales off the coast of Majorca.



The Pilot, the Pygmy, the Beaked, the Beluga,
The Gray and the Sperm and less-know Strap-Toothed-a.



But out of the whales (with baleens and without)
You never once met the Green Whale, I've no doubt.



A wonderful creature, the whale who is green
For he has the power to make oceans clean.



He purifies seas with a slap of his fin,
Neutralizes pollutants that people dump in.



He makes special reefs for all the ocean fishes
And creates kelp forests with splashes and splishes.



He banishes oil; he can un-do red tide.
How does he do it?  Well... that's classified.



Alas, the Green Whales lives in imagination
But if he were real, there'd be cause for elation.



Yes, if he existed, how great it would be
For all of the creatures who live in the sea.

Your own Green Whale can be found here.

Diary of a Sea Turtle

October



Monday



I've been swimming and diving all day. Haven't seen anyone else. A few other leatherbacks floated past yesterday, but I ignored them. It's not like I'm in the mood to mate or anything. Last night I did some shallow diving for a plankton meal. In the morning I'll do some deep diving. I haven't snacked on a jellyfish for a while, and I've got a craving. Hmm. Maybe it is time to mate again.




Friday
It's getting close to nesting season. I should probably start heading that way. Yesterday three different leatherbacks were giving me the eye. You should have seen the carapace on one of them! I told him size wasn't everything. I want a sensitive father for my babies. A nice artistic leatherback. I hope the little shy one comes back. I think he has beautiful eyes. I'm finally just offshore from the nesting grounds.



Saturday

Did the deed with the little shy leatherback. I wonder if I'll see him again. Maybe he'll write me poetry. I'd like that.




November
Monday
I haven't seen Shy Boy for three weeks. Maybe we'll meet again next year. I just got to the shore. These nesting grounds are quite deluxe. I always come here. I recognize some of the girls from a few years back. I'll probably keep coming here for the next 20 years or so. No time to chat with the others. I have a body pit to dig.



Tuesday

Finished my pit just in the nick of time. This year I laid 70 eggs - my biggest batch yet. Can't wait to see what my 70-uplets look like. I bet they'll all have their father's eyes. I stayed with them a few hours, but then I headed back into the water. The temperatures have been cool, which means probably more sons than daughters this time.





Time to head out to sea and find a new daddy for my next batch. I think I'll lay them farther up the beach, this time. I'd like more of a view.





January
Monday
I've been out swimming for months now, celebrating my 12th birthday. But I think tonight's the night for my babies to hatch. I want to watch them reach the water.



Tuesday

Nothing yet. Maybe they're still digging their way to the surface. 



Friday



Here they come! Tiny babies. Some of them look like that big carpace leatherback I met back in October. I wonder who their mother is. I see about 30 with those dreamy eyes. Those must be mine. And they look to be excellent divers. When a bird flew swooped by, they all plunged deeper into the ocean. I feel so proud. My babies are ready for their lost year; they'll keep to the ocean, away from the shore. I'm planning to log 1000 miles this year.  Maybe I'll see them again somewhere.