The Breath of Life

 The Republic of Palau is blessed with over 70 salt water lakes, trapped inside the limestone islands.  Each of these lakes rises and falls with the tides due to the porous nature of the surrounding rock.  As the tide rises, salt water rushes through minute openings allowing each lake to "breathe" with the incoming tide.  Over geologic time, these tiny pours increase in size, leading to the formation of macro-tunnels.  Under normal circumstances, these tunnels deliver oxygenated water, nutrients, and even the larva of corals, fish, and marine invertebrates.  Thus the tunnels serve as The Breath of Life for these otherwise trapped salt water environments.

   Sadly, with the introduction of the global plague of plastics and marine debris, the tunnel systems can become clogged up.  This can have grievous effects on the marine life living inside the lakes, denying them food, oxygen, and nutrients.  Thus it's more than appropriate to occasionally lend the lakes a helping hand. 

 On World Ocean's Day, 2020, the father & son team of Ron & Calvin Leidich slipped away from their docks and raced to the nearby Blue Bottle Lake.

 Squeezing into the constricted tunnel system on Scuba, the diving duo began removing the anthropogenic obstacles, which included plastic buoys, discarded shoes, abandoned fishing line, and even WWII truck tires! ​

 After removing the impediments the divers ventured into the lake to say hello to the resident fish life.  They were immediately surrounded by the diamond shaped Monodactylus fish and enjoyed encounters with the impeccably shy juvenile Giant Sweet Lips.​

  The fish had no way of acknowledging the diver's good deed for the day, but the brief encounter was a subtle thank you for the job well done.