Off the south coast of Terceira, exists a small pair of islets affectionately dubbed “Split Rock” for obvious reasons. The real name of the islands is Goat island, but Split Rock sells better to the tourists.
When we sailed into Angra do Heroísmo, we saw Split Rock in the distance, but we never got a view as magnificent as this!
On the south side of the island are these incredible lava formations which create a natural swimming pool. At high tide, the waves feed fresh water and nutrients to these small pools, and at low tide, these pools warm up.
Even more amazing are the incredible worlds of life inside the pools. Plants, fish, and all sorts of life that has washed into these pools live out their lives isolated from the ocean across the rock.
It is very interesting to look at the fish in these pools. They live out their entire lives in these pools completely unaware of the universe of the ocean right next to them. So close yet so removed from the world beyond them. It makes me think about our lives. Incredible adventure might exist just beyond what we think of as our “world” and yet completely out of mind. We do not know about it and we do not see it, yet we could just reach out and enter this amazing realm.
Just the same applies with our boat in the harbor. We exist and live out our time in a protected pool just across from the ocean beyond the breakwater. When we finally leave the Azores for Porto, Portugal, we will slip out of our “pool” and out into the great ocean beyond. We will be the fish that leave the pool while the other fish who remain will wonder what ever came of us. The only difference between the fish and us is we have the power of the internet.
We are able to keep in touch with the fish who remain in the pool and let the know about the wonders that exist beyond the stone wall.
