When families go for vacation, they do so all in the hope that they will relax and will also have fun. Indeed, many choose the beach and places close to the ocean to go and spend their vacations. When families plan, they plan with little or no consideration at all of what nature might throw at them. This is of course in the negative sense.
The hope is usually for the best and above all, to experience normalcy. It is rare to find a family planning for vacation and simultaneously gauging how nature can be mysterious. The story of Joel a young boy poses a different perspective regarding nature’s mysteriousness.
1. Curiosity
As Joel and his family are enjoying their vacation, he is inside the water. All he is doing is seeing his environment. At that time, the water moved as a result of the light’s reflection, giving the impression that something was beneath it.
Then something brushed against the Joel’s foot, knocking him off his feet. As he ascended the stairwell, he wondered if he was secure from the clutches. Indeed, he was terrified, as it could be any creature and above all, it could be a dangerous creature. However, his curiosity made him want to see what had thrown him off balance.
2. Joel in panic
Before this particular incident people around the beach were able to see this creature that Joel was encountering. They had seen it move.
By the time Joel’s attention was drawn to the creature he had his camera. At that time the people who were a distance from where Joel was were in panic mode.
3. Hungry
Joel was yelled at by everyone watching the event to get away from the water. Indeed, for something moving as the creature did, and no one being sure what it was, the first thought for many was that it was a hungry shark.
Hungry because sharks would rarely come to the shallow ends of water unless they are hunting. Joel, on the other hand, was curious as to what had attempted to submerge him. He was hoping that the creature would be a whale, but definitely not a shark.
4. The Creature
Joel’s curiosity, to a large extent gave him some bravery that seemed very unusual, especially considering that he was just a child. As the creature came close and closer to where he was, he hurried up the stairwell to stay safe and get a better look at it. When he turned around, after moving away from the water through the steps, he was met with a scene that would stay with him for the rest of his life.
The creature was very huge and indeed no one would tell what it was. The creature moved closer to the first step that Joel had moved away from.
5. Joel and the Creature
The exact description of the creature is as follows; it was unusually huge, and water rolled down on its back, which appeared to be to a large extent oily. Joel was the only one closer to the creature.
He, too, was very surprised just like the rest, as he never had probably thought something like that would exist. Everyone stood around in shock and fear, keenly waiting to see how events at the beach would have unfolded. Everyone at that time was thinking whether the creature, owing to its huge size was a dangerous animal. The main person to worry about at that time was Joel as his proximity to the creature was very close.
6. Bravery
Despite Joel being curious, his bravery at the time the creature had moved to the first step, was seen. He did not listen or even pay attention to the noises that people made towards him. It was a giant manta ray and was much larger than the boy, about triple his size.
As the people watching yelled at him he exuded bravery that no one would ever imagine of a young child such as him. In fact, he was smiling and hollered that it was okay. Indeed the creature was not as dangerous as people had thought. However, Joel’s bravery still left people surprised.
7. The Beautiful Scene
Joel had figured out what he needed to do. This was pursuant to his experiences at the beach for the few days they had been there. He figured out what the manta ray was looking for.
Onlookers watched as the monster extended its jaws wide enough for Joel to put his hand in and open his fist. Everyone was looking at Joel as he put his hand in the creature’s jaws. They were worried that he might be hurt by the animal, but nothing bad occurred. Everyone was still in doubt and shock. No one knew what would happen next, and they continued watching as things unfolded.
8. Crossing fingers
As everyone continued watching, crossing their fingers that nothing bad would happen, a very interesting scene occurred. Before clamping down on what Joel had left, the wild animal held its mouth open and waited for Joel to remove his hand.
When they realized it was a lovely spectacle unfolding in front of their eyes, everyone let out a sigh of relief. This manta ray was creative enough to devise a delicious method to feed, yet it was unafraid of people.
9. Joel held food
It boldly went up to tourists, who fed it once they had recovered from its astonishment. Joel held food in his palm, attempting to entice her to eat it. Another beautiful scene was when Joel patted the manta ray’s silky back after feeding several times.
The creature appeared to have answered by waving its fin in a manner that would signify that it appreciated Joel’s gesture. Then it went away and returned for more petting before choosing to leave Joel alone for a while.
10. The Message from the Locals
The locals of Vueltas were not surprised by the many extraordinary occurrences that occurred in this fishing harbor. In fact the fact that the above mentioned occurrence took place was not a big deal to them. According o them they are aware of the creatures and believe that manta rays follow their fishing boats in search of food. Some sailors and fisherman, on the other hand, were not always kind with the harmless creatures.
According to the locals, because manta rays were so large and powerful, there were still concerns about them. Some sailors believe they are cursed with terrible luck. The locals believe that in the year 1978, another side of this lovely creature was unveiled. In essence to them as much as they are seen to be good by tourists, they are not to be trusted. This is especially on the belief that they bring bad luck.
11. The Effect of the Discovery of the Creature
After the Joel’s experience there has been a sudden interest in mantra ray. For instance, divers in California began documenting their encounters with manta rays to prove that they were not dangerous to humans and were kind. Moreover, people started coming out to state and prove their experiences with the creature. For instance many started talking and sharing through social media of their experiences with the creature.
A group of divers found a stingray barreling toward them in one footage. They quickly noticed it was encircled by a net, so they untangled it and let it swim away. This also brought attention to a unique threat that manta rays confront. Indeed, such proves that something positive came out of the whole encounter that Joel had with the creature. Knowing more about such creatures would be a great source of protecting the marine environment.
12. Protecting the Creature
Fishing nets entangle a lot of manta rays. As seen earlier, the locals say that they are attracted to the fishing nets. This is what in fact brings them closer to the beaches where human presence is high. Research has indeed been done by conservationists believe the species is on the verge of extinction.
This is due to the dangers that the creature face whenever they are entangled to the fishing nets. In essence the fishermen fish the creature too. The whole issue of the creature being entangled as per the research has happened a lot of times in the recent past.
13. Manta fishing
Footage of the creatures behaving in a nice manner towards people might be useful. Manta tourism has become quite popular as a result of all of the videos. Manta tourism has the potential to raise awareness about the creature’s condition while also boosting the local economy.
Manta fishing was outlawed in Indonesia, and the country shifted its focus to tourism, which is more profitable. One hunted ray may bring in $500, but a live animal attraction may make up to $1 million over the course of its life. This shows that protecting this animal is way beneficial to a country as opposed to just leaving it to exist, which exposes it to a lot of danger.
14. Another Creatures
Joel’s encounter with the mantra ray proved that people do not know so much about the marine creature. This is why it was easy for those around him to think that the creature was a harmful one that would probably kill him.
The truth is that people still have no idea of these creature, and especially those ones that may not be harmful at all. A good examples to give an illustration is what happened in Wareham, Massachusetts, where an unknown creature sent many locals into panic mode and indeed wreaked a lot of havoc.
15. Dangerous-looking monster
Calls poured in every day and the police station took the brunt of it. People claimed to have seen a dangerous-looking monster swimming about, but there was a greater issue. This was just like what had happened in Joel’s case where people thought they had seen the worst of creatures.
Some callers claimed to have scary stories, while others said that the creature was in pain. Garry Buckminster claimed that he began receiving calls at 6:30 a.m. on his personal line, and that they continued to come. Despite the fact that their stories were different, they all appeared worried.
16. Monster in the water
Despite the fact that the cries were all distinct, everyone agreed that the creature moved around awkwardly.
Some even went to the extent of assuming that it was a shark or an injured seal because of its jerking motions. Whatever the case, they were all taken aback by the facts. Buckminster felt compelled to solve the riddle as quickly as possible, so he dispatched two police officers to explore their cove. They soon discovered the monster in the water. They realized it was a Sunfish when they drew closer. They were able to ascertain that this creature was not in pain. This is because how it moved was normal. It therefore had no issue at all.
17. The Need to Increase Awareness
Nature needs to be carefully looked at. This is so as to ensure that many of the creature we have such as the ones discussed do not become extinct. Conservation efforts are more important than ever as overfishing, climate change, and pollution have a greater impact on the oceans.
The meetings between Joel and the police make for fantastic footage, but they also raise awareness for those animals. Awareness is therefore a serious issue that should be taken with utmost seriousness across all sectors.
18. Continued Discovery of Nature
Scientists frequently make surprising findings, and the vast majority of them are unintentional. Of course, even if people are aware that these things might happen, they will still be shocked when incidents such as that of Joel happen. While living under extreme conditions in Antarctica, geologist James Smith of the British Antarctic Survey discovered an unexpected discovery.
Conditions are difficult while spending time in the midst of the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. Smith and his team were there, braving bitter weather, sleeping in a tent, and surviving on dried food. They had come to learn more about the floating shelf’s past. The issue is that it was hidden behind a half mile of thick ice.
19. Conclusion
The foregoing discussion points to the fact that people are truly not aware of what is part of the ecosystem. If discoveries are still being made till now, then the question is just how many things exist that people do not know of? The other question is whether those things are dangerous or not.
This indeed speaks to the mysteriousness of nature. One might think that certain creatures are dangerous, when in the real sense they are not. The goal therefore is for society to create ways of making people aware of what they do not know of.