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National Geographic : 1982 Feb
Contents
camera gear, lunches, spare clothing, and technical supplies, we carried nine diving tanks, at 37 pounds apiece, and a four-man inflatable rubber boat weighing 50 pounds. At last, drenched with sweat and streaked with dirt, we stumbled down to the shore of the lake, bordered with spectral mangrove roots. Pulling off our boots, we jumped fully clothed into the cooling water. Black looks greeted the query, "Who's going back for the second load?" With all the gear assembled, we paddled our rubber boat into open water. Wary of saltwater crocodiles, we slapped the surface with our oars, making lots of noise. If any crocodiles lived there, the racket would pique their curiosity: In isolation they are quite unafraid of man. No reptilian snouts breached the still surface. How nice! We re turned to shore and put on our diving gear. In the center of the lake, we dropped slowly down the boat's anchor line. At the surface the water was blue, clear, and cool-sweet to the taste. Recent rainwater floated above the salt. A few feet deeper and the water shone bright green with algae. Lower still, and abruptly the water turned bright red, bril liant magenta, then black! In the dark we turned on our lights: The water here actually was quite clear, but no daylight reached it, though we were only ten feet below the sur face. The algae and reddish material above us had totally absorbed all the sunlight. We sank deeper into the dark clear water. Warning bells rang in my brain! The air from my regulator began to taste like rotten eggs. We had reached anoxic water, where oxygen was absent, replaced by dissolved hydrogen sulfide. This deadly gas was MUSSELS, GENUS BRACHIDONTES;SHRIMP, PERICLIMENESUKANUIs,1 INHn Dye fans out from a convoluted 325-foot-long tunnel joining Kaibakku Lake (left, center) with a lagoon. Tidal waters rush forcefully through the 12-foot-wide conduit, mixing with rainwaterat the surface. In other lakes, where water percolates gently through tiny fissures, a layeringresults. In Spooky Lake's stratified waters a glass shrimp perches on algae carpeted mussels (above). Free of predatorsin this habitat,it has lost the timid nature of its ocean-dwelling kin. This one boldly crawled over the author'sface mask. 273
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