^{A yellow feather duster worm releases its tentacle crown to capture microplankton from the water column. © Jeffrey Cardenas 2026}

Spanish Wells, Eleuthra — I was asked recently, “So where’ve you been hiding lately, under a rock somewhere?”

Actually, yes.  

These days, as I cruise around the Bahamas in Stella Maris, I spend as much time as possible underwater seeking areas where there is still life on the reef. I find it under the rocks.

I enjoy swimming under the deep overhangs along the Bahamian ironshore or into shallow blue holes. Sometimes I find ocean caves accessible only through underwater passages that lead to their internal air pockets. It’s nothing dramatic. I’m a senior citizen freediver. I know my limitations–usually.

I go into these cool, dark places to see small wonders that are becoming harder to find as climate change warms our oceans’ waters.

Cool, dark places underwater are often full of life. There are anenomes and dozens of varieties of sponges and invertebrates. There are fish, too, like the mildly venomous squirrel fish with their bright, bulging eyes, and vibrant glassy sweeper fish, which I see only in the darkest corners under rocks. There are also groupers. I hear them grunt before I see them. My curiosity overrules my appetite, so instead of a spear, I am armed only with cameras.  

^{Encountering copper-colored glassy sweeper fish under the rocks is always a pleasant surprise. Juveniles are nearly transparent. © Jeffrey Cardenas 2026}

I don’t use a spotlight when I am freediving in these dark places. If my breath hold is strong enough, my pupils have time to adjust to the ambient light, and I watch this wondrous world slowly come into focus. I have also learned to keep my hands to myself. In a dark crevice, a green moray eel the diameter of my arm opens and closes its mouth, displaying a set of razor-sharp teeth. It’s the eel’s way of asking me politely to respect its house.

I won’t deny that diving into these dark places is also a form of escapism for me. Being underwater is as far away as I can get from the political fallout that rains down each day. As this bitter storm of political invective intensifies in Washington and elsewhere, critical environmental initiatives are threatened. Nature is the casualty.

Saltwater is a shield. The low light beneath rocks, ledges, and in shallow caves provides sea feathers, nudibranchs, and a multitude of other species–including me–shelter from the storm. In a world that seems hotter, literally and figuratively, small wonders still exist.

^{A cave at Rocky Dundas in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. © Jeffrey Cardenas 2026}

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As always, sailing is not just about the wind and the sea; the places, the flora, fauna, and people encountered along the way are equally important.

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An additional website, www.JeffreyCardenas.com, features hundreds of fine art images—underwater, maritime landscapes, boats, and mid-ocean sailing photography — from exotic locations worldwide.

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Text, Photography, and Videos © Jeffrey Cardenas 2026

Let this be a time of grace and peace in our lives – Rev. John C. Baker