Mr. Savage picked up his plate, scooped up some more food to top it off, and stood up. “Right. I’m calling it a night, guys. I’ve got a few phone calls to make.”
We turned back to the rest of the crew. “So … what do you guys think?” I asked, realizing not one of them had said anything. Maybe it was because they were starving and just too hungry to speak.
Alice was the first to speak. “My thoughts?”
I nodded, encouraging her to go on.
“If you don’t want to go down the wildlife conservationist route, you have one keen eye for photography!”
I blushed at the compliment. That was high praise coming from someone as talented as Alice!
“I second her, Adrianna. You really have a gift! We’ll have to talk Savage into getting you to hold a GoPro or something more often,” Mark agreed, his plate and mouth finally empty.
“Not my area of expertise at all,” Connor said. “But I know a good photo when I see one. And I see a couple there.”
“You said your friends took some photos as well?” Alice asked.
“Yeah. Each one of us had a camera so we could cover more ground,” I explained.
“It was like a secret mission of sorts.” Feye smirked.
“Definitely want to see those. We can identify the sharks, and when we go out to get footage, we can prioritize getting live-action shots of those animals for comparison!” Alice nodded to herself.
“Better alive than dead,” chimed in Mark.
Mr. Savage wasn’t at his usual seat at our table during breakfast the next morning. I had been hoping to learn whether or not our Shark Appreciation Festival was a go.
“Do you think Mr. Savage has an answer yet?” I asked as Mom made up a plate of food for me.
“Maybe. But regardless if it is a yes or no, we are so proud of you, Adrianna,” Dad said as he smiled at me. He already had his morning cup of coffee and seemed a lot more alert than Mom, who was sipping away slowly at her tea. She had woken up with no pain from the jellyfish sting and the only evidence that anything had ever happened was a pink mark on her arm.
Mom nodded. “You really showed initiative by taking responsibility for your emotional outburst the other day and harnessing those frustrated emotions into some positive action.”
She turned to Dad. “Our little girl is growing up! Right before our eyes!”
I rolled my eyes.
We all ate in silence for a few minutes, the only noise at our table the slurping of drinks or the clatter of silverware against our emptying plates. I slowly drank my milk, happy to have something cold to refresh my dry throat. As I put my glass back down, I took a second to breathe in the spices that hung in the air like a yummy perfume. I looked at the colorful dishes on everyone’s table, the conversations a mixture of English, Sinhala, Tamil, and some other languages that sounded like music coming out of their speakers’ mouths.
One voice in particular cut through the melody. “Good morning, everyone! How are we doing today?” Mr. Savage boomed, suddenly quieting those around us.
Different from his usual garments, he wore a flashy black outfit that shimmered in the lights. I looked at the clothes the camera crew wore to see if we had to go back upstairs to change. No one told us we had to look fancy today! I was in an old khaki shirt, my swimsuit, and dirty shorts, so if we were going to some party, I at least wanted to look kind of nice.
Before any of us could respond, Mr. Savage began speaking again. “Do we want to hear some amazing news? Or today’s itinerary?”
“The amazing news, of course!” I shouted. I quickly clapped my hands over my mouth. That had been a little louder than I intended.
“You heard my sister! The news!” Feye parroted, play-punching my arm to let me know it was okay I had been too loud.
“The network loved the ideas! So today I’ll be heading into town and working with some local vendors to find where we can set up this amazing festival,” Mr. Savage said, and then turned to me and winked. “Including your photo gallery idea.”
I instantly brightened up and ripped my hands away from my face. Hooray! Yes! This was just the news I needed to hear to continue to prove myself as a part of the Wild Survival! team.
Mr. Savage turned to Alice, Mark, and Connor. “Evelyn told me about how Adrianna and Manil’s kid Zev came across some Sri Lankan elephants. Manil knows where that particular water hole is, so I want him to lead the adults back there for some photos and captivating footage of them among these animals.”
Wait, the adults? Are Feye and I included in that?
“What about us, Mr. Savage?” asked Feye, who must’ve been reading my thoughts.
“Those photos your sister took in the market the other day gave me an idea.” Mr. Savage winked. As if by magic, his hand dipped into a bag that he held by his side that I hadn’t seen before. In went a bare hand, out came a hand with two GoPros. “I had a chat with Alice and Mark and we all agree that getting some footage shot by you and Adrianna would be good for bits of the show, promos, and social media,” he said as he handed us each a camera. “We’ll call it ‘Villalobos Vision’!”
I giggled at the name.
But Feye wasn’t convinced. “So, let me get this straight. No elephants for A and me?”
Mr. Savage shook his head, his face going a bit red at being further questioned. “Not today. Heard there are some aggressive bulls around and your parents made the decision to keep you two away from the elephants. Perfect for filming … but also for accidently squishing kids. So that’s a no for you guys.” His tone changed, as if he was displeased with what our parents said.
After what had happened to me in Cuba, I knew they were being a bit stricter with what animals we were interacting with. I had heard them raising their voices while talking about this with Mr. Savage, who said it could ruin the show if they chose to leave us out of pivotal moments.
“Where do we go, then?” I asked, desperate to change the sore subject.
“How about snorkeling at a beach?” Mom piped up.
“Like the one near the fish market?” Feye offered.
“Might get some good shots of animals eating tossed-over scraps,” Dad said, nodding.
“Dr. Chandrika is out there today. You guys can meet up with her. Stay out of trouble,” Mom warned.
“Yes, Mom,” we answered in unison.
We finished our breakfast quickly and kissed our parents goodbye. With the GoPros still in hand, we raced upstairs to grab some towels and our wet suits before heading outside toward the fish market.
“Think we’ll see anything cool?” I asked Feye, who was busy taking a video for his “thousands of worldwide fans.” He finished with a wink to the camera and then turned to me and shrugged.
“Who knows. With you around, probably. Interesting stuff always finds you,” my big brother teased.
The walk to the market felt shorter than yesterday’s walk, maybe because we went the direct way instead of through dirt backroads to avoid possibly being seen by the poachers. As we got closer, I could make out the distinctive smell of not-quite-dried fish on the yellowy sand of the beach. The sun wasn’t as intense as yesterday’s, but I was glad for the coverage our wet suits would give us. And after my mom’s run-in with a jellyfish, we wanted to make sure we were as protected as possible.
Now at the beach, we chose to walk away from the fish market smell. Farther down the beach we could see people lying out on towels and tanning, fruity drinks in their hands.
“Adrianna?” I heard a male voice say as we got closer to the water’s edge. I looked around and spotted Dilip, who was waving hello and coming toward us.
“Feye, you remember Dilip, right?” I said.
“Yeah, I remember. Hey, Dilip,” Feye said curtly, glancing at the water eagerly.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, ignoring my brother’s pleading look to hurry this conversation up.
“My father is a fisher. He’s dropping off his catch inside,” he ans
wered, pointing toward the building we all had run away from yesterday. “What about you?”
I held up the GoPro. “Filming, for the show. We were just going for a quick snorkel. Have you swum here before?”
Dilip nodded. “Sure, plenty of times. There are some cool things to see around the coral here.”
“Like?” I asked.
“Sea snakes, for one.”
I saw Feye’s skin instantly prickle up. He was fine with land snakes … but sea snakes scared him. I tried to get him to explain it to me once, but he just shut me down by putting his headphones on. Typical older brother move.
“That would be awesome to see, right, Feye?” I asked, trying to calm him down by reaching out for his hand. He hesitated for a second before taking it, as if wondering if his “coolness” would go down a smidge in front of Dilip for holding my hand.
“Dad’s going to be busy for a while. Mind if I join you?” Dilip asked.
I looked at Feye, who shrugged.
“Sure. Just try to stay out of the way of the GoPro,” Feye said. With that, my brother and I changed into our wet suits and we all went into the water.
“We only have to swim a little bit before getting to the coral heads around here,” Dilip explained, spitting water out of his mouth and taking a deep breath before diving under the waves, motioning for us to follow him. Without another word, Feye and I made sure to turn our “Villalobos Vision” on, and each took one side of Dilip so we wouldn’t accidental capture him on our film.
As I swam forward and looked down, all I saw at first was the sandy bottom with funky patterns dancing on it from the sun above us. After a few more kicks, rocks started to litter my view. The rocks turned into bigger boulders and then coral patches. Fish of every color darted between the structures, hiding from us as we came closer. Big fish, small fish, it was a kaleidoscope of mesmerizing hues.
“Ah, here’s one!” we heard Dilip yell out from the surface, and we turned to see him pointing to an animal that … well, looked like a snake; there was no denying that! As it swam in an S-shaped pattern, I could see the black-and-white banding coming our way.
“Is that a sea snake or a snake that jumped from a nearby tree and just happens to know how to swim?” Feye asked, his head above the water’s surface.
“It’s a banded sea krait! These are pretty common around here,” Dilip said.
I didn’t bring my head out of the water until the snake had safely passed, its small eyes checking me out but otherwise leaving me alone as it minded its own business.
“Are they poisonous?” Feye asked.
I shook my head. “Poisonous, no,” I said. “Venomous, yes.”
“What’s the difference?” asked Dilip.
“Poison gets into the body by you swallowing or inhaling it. Or even absorbing it through your skin. Venom is injected into the body, like through a bite or sting,” I said.
“Are there animals that are both?” Dilip asked, intrigued.
“Sometimes. At the zoo in our aquarium portion, we have an exhibit for the blue-ringed octopus, which is both poisonous and venomous,” I said. “Venomous when it bites things with its beak, but also poisonous if you swallow it.”
Dilip looked at me in awe, and then to Feye, who rolled his eyes. “My sister, the walking encyclopedia.”
Before I could say something snarky in return, I took a deep breath and went back to snorkeling. We could talk on land! I wanted to take every opportunity I could to see what was in Sri Lankan waters.
But as I swam ahead of Dilip and my brother, I was horrified at what I saw. Popping my head up and out of the water, I yelled out to the guys, who swam quickly to me. I pointed down below us and looked at Dilip.
“How long have these been here?” I asked, and both Feye and Dilip submerged their heads to see the piles of floating fishing ropes and lines beneath our feet, nearly invisible in the dim light. Entangled in them were fish, or what remained of fish, and other animals I couldn’t quite make out.
“Ghost fishing. I’ve only read about it, but have never seen it,” Feye said with a sad tone in his voice.
“What’s ghost fishing?” Dilip asked.
“It’s when there is discarded, lost, or abandoned fishing gear in the marine environment that still is catching animals,” Feye explained. “It’s something that happens all over the world, not just here.”
I dipped my head under again, not believing how much discarded gear there was. I, too, had only read about ghost fishing and never seen it in person. Every year millions of marine animals get caught in this kind of waste, like fish, sharks, whales, seals, turtles, and even birds. I knew we could report abandoned fishing gear back at home, but what about here?
A sudden movement in the net caught my eye, and with another deep breath, like I saw Zev take before he went free diving, I dove underwater and kicked to get closer to the pile of stuff. There, tangled in the clear lines, was a green sea turtle, desperately wiggling back and forth to get free. I usually only saw them wriggle around so much when they were clambering onto land to sunbathe.
The stinging in my chest reminded me that I wasn’t a fish and needed to take a breath. Kicking back up to the surface, I looked at the guys as I gasped and filled my lungs with air.
“There’s a turtle stuck in the line!” I said. “We have to get it out!”
“It could bite you!” Feye said.
“When have you heard of a sea turtle biting someone?” I argued.
Feye looked stumped.
“Mom and Dad always say to ‘do the right thing.’ We can’t just leave it down there to drown,” I said. Sea turtles aren’t like fish. They need to come up to the surface to breathe. I knew my brother wouldn’t disagree with me on that. He loved animals as much as I did.
“We don’t even have anything to cut it loose with, A,” Feye said, sighing.
“I do!” Dilip said, rummaging in his pocket and producing a sharp knife.
Feye and I did a double take.
“What?” asked Dilip. “It’s a dive knife. I have it when I go fishing with my dad in case the line gets caught on stuff and we have to cut it off.”
“That’s perfect!” I said, thankful that we had run into Dilip.
“Well, nice knowing you, Dilip!” Feye said, motioning toward the pile where the sea turtle was wriggling.
“I’m not going down there! I can’t hold my breath that long,” Dilip said.
I grabbed the knife from him and clipped the GoPro to my shoulder so the camera could see everything. My very own animal rescue! “I’ll do it,” I said.
Before Feye or Dilip could stop me, I took another deep breath and swam down to the poor sea turtle, which by now had slowed its wriggling a bit. It must be running out of oxygen. I gotta hurry!
It was harder to cut through the lines with the knife than I had expected, and after only cutting through two of the four holding the sea turtle down, my lungs demanded I go back up for air. With a few powerful kicks I broke through to the surface and gulped in a few bits of air. I tuned out Feye and Dilip’s concerned questions. The turtle was running out of time. I took a final big gulp of air and headed back under the water.
When I was with the sea turtle again, I tried my hardest to go as fast as I could in cutting the lines before I ran out of air again. I felt the line snap! as it got cut into two bits. I figured I could just tug the turtle out of the few remaining lines so as not to waste more time. My chest burned, but I didn’t want to quit now. The turtle had stopped moving. I reached for the turtle and gently pulled it out from the cut lines.
One second the turtle was lying limp in the ocean’s current and the next it was thrashing in my hand trying to free itself from my grip. The motion allowed the turtle to wiggle backward out of my grasp and the remaining lines around it. Without a second glance behind it, the small reptile shot out of my hand and into the open ocean.
The shock of the turtle suddenly coming back to life caused me to let out a “Wow!”
I took in a big mouthful of salty water by accident. My chest burned and I realized I was in trouble. I kicked my legs, which felt strangely heavy now, and tried to focus on the bright sunlight of the surface above.
Am I going to drown?
A few bubbles escaped my mouth and they gently floated up to the surface, where sunbeams scattered every which way now that the sun was out in full force. I could even feel its warmth from down here, and it was making me a bit sleepy.
I willed my legs to kick upward, despite feeling tired, and made my arms sort of do a swimming motion, even though it felt like I was trying to move through Jell-O.
I thought I could hear yelling from above the waves, but I couldn’t be sure. There was movement above me, and suddenly I realized Feye was diving down toward me. With what little energy I had left, I reached for my brother’s hand with my fingertips—as far as they could go—and could have cried from joy when his hand grabbed mine and rapidly pulled me up.
My head felt stuffy as we broke through the Jell-O and I hit the fresh air. My stomach churned and I heaved up some of the ocean water I had swallowed.
“Adrianna!” Feye said, swimming us toward the shore. “Are you okay?”
I squinted up at my brother, the sun making it hard to see much of him aside from a fuzzy outline.
“I’m okay,” I whispered, my throat feeling dry as a desert.
“What happened?! I saw you struggling to come up,” Feye said.
“I freed the sea turtle, Feye. But then I accidentally swallowed a lot of water,” I explained.
“Help, someone help!” Dilip yelled as we reached the sand. He helped Feye pull me onto the sand.
A few of the adults looked up from their mats and towels and I suddenly recognized one of the adults who had come up to us in a hurry. It was Dr. Chandrika, wearing a bright pink one-piece swimsuit. “What happened?” she asked.
“She saw a sea turtle stuck in some fishing lines so she cut it loose, but she stayed down too long and swallowed a lot of water,” Dilip explained.
Swimming With Sharks Page 7