Authors: Ellen Prager
Just past the northern tip of Norman Island, the ride smoothed out. The teens relaxed their grips on the ropes. They came to another large embayment. It was lined by sparkling white sand, and the water was an astonishing shade of turquoise. Two sailboats were anchored just offshore. They continued on. After rounding another rocky outcrop, Meg slowed the boat.
“Here we are, and just as I hoped, no one else is here yet. It's a popular snorkeling site for tourists.”
In front of them lay another semicircular cove. A sheer wall of tan rock lined the cove and dropped steeply into the sea as if it had been carved with a giant knife. Behind it was a high, brown hill topped by scrubby, low-lying trees and bushes. And, like an enormous pair of eyes, two high-arching caves sat side by side at the water's edge. The water in front of the caves was invitingly clear and light emerald green. Tristan had never seen anything like it.
Meg cut the engine. “This is Treasure Caves. The story is that a pirate once buried his loot here. People have searched and searched, but no one's ever found anything even remotely valuable.”
They coasted up to a floating white ball about the
size of a big beach ball. Coach Fred went to the front of the inflatable, leaned over on his belly, and pulled up a looped line attached to the ball. He tied it to a line from the bow of their boat. He then came back and gave each camper a bottle of Sea Camp water, encouraging them to drink.
As Tristan swigged the pink-tinted water, a small wave hit them from the wake of a passing boat. He choked and spilled half the water down his shirt. The other teens snickered. Coach gave him a questioning look. Tristan shrugged and tried to look confident.
“Okay, Snappers,” Coach instructed. “Here's the plan. You'll swim over to the caves with Dr. Gladfell, who will then lead you in.”
The scientist added, “We've had reports of some die-offs in the area. There's almost always a school of copper sweepers inside the caves and sometimes an octopus or two. It'll be good place to start our investigation.”
“Uh, Dr. Gladfell, what are copper sweepers?” Hugh asked.
“Please, Hugh, call me Meg. They're relatively small schooling fish that like to hang out in caves or crevices in reefs.”
Coach looked at Hugh. “Haverford, use your communication skills to question the fish about any marine life fatalities in the area or if they've noticed anything out of the ordinary in the water.”
“And everyone keep your eyes out for anything that doesn't look healthy,” the scientist said. “I'll be with
you if you have any questions.” She pulled on her fins and readied a mask and snorkel. “Of course, I need these.”
Just then, a small yellow head popped up next to the boat. They heard the faint intake of air.
“Turtle!” Sam exclaimed.
The others turned to see, but the sea turtle quickly tucked its head under the water and disappeared.
Coach Fred spun around, surveying the surrounding area, and then said, “Snappers, deploy!” The teens sat staring at Coach with a perplexed expression, so he added, “Jump in.”
Tristan, Sam, and Ryder slid into the water almost immediately. Hugh and Rosina remained aboard, staring uneasily into the sea. Meg encouraged them in as she, too, slipped in.
Once in the cool ocean, Tristan felt calmer yet energized. He dove. It was only about ten feet deep, and giant, blocky, tan rocks lay at various angles on the seafloor. He swam through a wide V-shaped crack between two big rocks, and then circled one the size of a porta-potty. His leg brushed against something soft. Tristan twisted around. It was a dark brown sea whip growing up from a rock. It had long, soft branches coming off a central stalk, like a short, furry underwater tree. He glanced around; there were more sea whips scattered about on the rocks and bottom. Tristan headed to the surface for a breath. Along the way, he noticed some orangey antler-shaped corals.
Tristan dove back down. He saw something odd on
top of a large, flat rock and swam over to investigate. It looked like a collection of tall, tan pillar candles. Tristan swam closer. Make that
fuzzy
, tall, tan pillar candles, only they were corals. He waved his hand gently by one. Thousands of thin, brown tentacles with tiny, white tips fluttered like a wheat field in gusty winds. Awesome. Tristan waved his hand again, and a fish swam up to watch. At least, he thought it was a fish. The creature bore a striking resemblance to an ornate serving platter. Its body was flat, dark brown, and oval shaped, with bright yellow, ribbony fins lining its narrow top and bottom. The fish also had a small, straight fan for a tail, and its head narrowed to a little puckered-up yellow snout. It was definitely the weirdest-looking fish Tristan had ever seen. It peered back at him, maybe thinking the same thing. The serving platter fish began paddling slowly, backing up. Tristan wanted to follow it, but he needed to go up for air.
At the surface, Tristan scanned the area for the others. They were nearing the caves. He swam to catch up. Meg was treading water with the others at the entrance to one of the caves. “Everyone okay?”
They all nodded and held up their webbed hands to show the scientist.
“Now
that
is cool.”
Meg led the group into the cave. The light quickly dimmed to a dull gray. Tristan again dove down. He stared at the walls. They angled in and were covered with what looked remarkably like splatters of brilliantly colored paint. There were splotches of vivid
pink, lavender, and rich reds intermingled with vibrant spots of yellow. Lumps of orange also dotted the rock canvas. Tristan popped up to the surface and heard Meg explain that much of it was sponge or something called coralline algae.
“What's the bright orange?” he asked.
“Oh, that's
Tubastraea
, also known as orange cup coral. Look closely. Some have their tentacles out to feed on zooplankton. The coral polyps look like small flowers.”
Sure enough, when Tristan dove down and looked closer, he saw rings of orange tentacles poking out from small, orange cups. He peered farther back into the cave. A brief flash caught his attention. It was like sunlight reflecting off a mirror. Tristan swam toward it curiously.
The cave got darker except for one spot, where sunlight piercing through a hole in the rocky ceiling lit up a column of water. A school of coppery-silver fish swirled in and out of the sunlight. Each was flat and the size of a large serving spoon. And when the light hit a fish just right, there was a fleeting glint off its shiny body. In a spiraling dance, the school of fish began to move toward Tristan. They swam past him to Hugh, surrounding the teen like a living tornado. Hugh spun around within the circling fish.
Treading water at the surface, Sam smiled at Hugh. “Looks like you've made some friends. Ask them if they've felt bad or seen any sick fish.”
Hugh submerged.
“Hey, you guys. Look over here,” Rosina shouted to them from farther back in the cave. She was holding onto a shelf-like ledge and pointing to something.
Tristan had to move closer to see what she was pointing atâ
bodies
; dead bodies, to be exact. There were dozens of fish, a couple of moray eels, and an octopus piled up on the ledge.
Tristan recognized some silver-and-pink striped fish. “Hey, those are squirrelfish.”
“That's right,” Meg confirmed after swimming over. She turned to Hugh, who joined them. “Find out anything?”
“A few nights ago, the water outside the cave started smelling bad, so the sweepers hunkered way back inside. A wave washed in that bunch of dead fish and things.” He pointed to the ledge.
“Do they know what caused it?” the scientist asked.
“Nope, no idea.”
“Could they tell you anything else?”
Hugh shook his head. “They said they pretty much keep to themselves here in the cave.”
“Okay, lets head out and see what else we can find out.”
“Are we just going to leave them here?” Sam asked, staring at the dead creatures.
“I'll take a few samples to see if we can figure out what killed them,” Meg answered. She put several dead fish in a plastic bag, sealed it, and placed it in a yellow mesh bag she'd brought along. “Let's see if you can find any other organisms to question.”
The teens swam out of the cave the same way they came in. Before he reached the entrance, Tristan stopped and stared ahead. Just outside the dim and shadowy cave, sunlight turned the water a radiant aqua blue. The contrast was mesmerizing. So much so that when Tristan exited the cave, he nearly missed the four-foot long nurse shark cruising by. But the shark must have sensed or seen him. It stopped abruptly, cocked its head, and settled on the bottom. It then laid perfectly still. Tristan took a breath and dove to it. The shark was motionless, as if wanting to blend into the seafloor and go unseen.
Tristan listened but didn't hear the shark saying anything.
Hey, hi. I'm Tristan
.
The shark remained as still as an undersea statue and just as silent.
Strange, thought Tristan. Sharks had always responded to him. Was there something wrong with the shark? Or him? He tried again.
Hi. I'm Tristan. Nice cave
.
The shark shook its head, and Tristan saw one eye briefly turn his way.
Hey, I can see you. Why won't you talk to me?
The shark glanced at him.
Go away!
It then swam off the bottom and under a rock. But the space was barely big enough for just the shark's head. Its whole body and tail stuck out. Tristan went to the surface for a breath. The other teens saw him. He waved. “Shark.” Tristan then dove back to where the shark was trying, rather unsuccessfully, to hide.
Your whole body is sticking out. That's not a very good hiding place. What's wrong?
The shark backed its way slowly out of the hole and then glanced nervously around before staring directly at Tristan.
Bugger. You're gonna bloody get me in trouble. If they see me talking to you, mate, I'm dead or worse.
Who? What are you talking about? We're just here to figure out why the fish and stuff are dying.
Clear off. Save yourself while you still can.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Tristan thought he saw something moving in the distance. It was an indistinct form at the edge of his eyesight's range. But it looked big.
Bloody hell! Now I'm sunk
. The shark flicked its tail and shot off.
Tristan stared into the blue water around him. Whatever he saw was gone. Tristan went after the nurse shark, but it was too late. The shark had also vanished. He swam back to the boat. The others were hanging onto the side of the inflatable.
“Hey, did you guys see something swim by out here?”
They shook their heads, swiveling around.
“What did you see, Hunt?” Coach asked from the boat.
“Not really sure, but it looked kinda big.”
Hugh's eyes got wide.
“What about the shark?” Sam asked. “What did it say?”
“It wouldn't talk to me. It was strange. Said something about getting into trouble if it talked. Told me to clear off, then swam away.”
“How big was the thing you saw?” Hugh asked, spinning around nervously.
Tristan just shook his head.
As they discussed the shark's odd behavior, a sea turtle popped up next to Ryder. Raising its cute, yellowy head for air, the turtle swam smack into his chest.
Ryder pushed it away. “Whoa, like, dude, watch out.”
Sam and Tristan swam over. The sea turtle's domed shell was brownish-green and about two feet across. It flapped its long, speckled front flippers and swam straight into Sam. Its gaze seemed unfocused, and its head bobbed unsteadily.
“Hugh, can you talk to it?” Sam asked.
“Nope, can't speak sea turtle.”
“Tristan?”
“Nope, me neither.”
“Birds for me,” Rosina offered.
They turned to Ryder. “Hey, why are you looking at me? I can't talk to the dumb turtle.”
As Meg climbed into the boat, she said, “We've seen sick sea turtles like this before. In an algae bloom a few years ago, the sea turtles seemed to be affected by a toxin released by the algae. They appeared to be confused, weak, and had trouble breathing. Let's get it into the boat. I'll radio the institute to arrange a rescue.”
Sam and Tristan held onto the sea turtle while the
other teens climbed into the inflatable. The sea turtle made no attempt to swim away. Its head lolled from side to side.
Meg wet a towel she'd brought along and laid it on the boat's deck. She and Coach Fred lifted the sea turtle from Sam and Tristan and placed it on the towel. They put another wet towel on top of the turtle. While they untied the boat from the mooring ball, Meg radioed the Virgin Islands Institute, telling them they rescued a sick sea turtle and asking for transport to the wildlife center in St. John. Coach Fred sat at the back and cranked up the outboard engine. They began motoring slowly away from Treasure Caves.