When the Sea Sparkles

A story from Meg Kikkeri.

Meg, a student of biology, geo-science and climate science, knows how to show her friends a good time. But when Meg said, “Let’s go kayaking at midnight,” and didn’t tell them why, they all thought she was nuts. Meg’s effervescent personality overcame their reservations, and the bioluminescent adventure that followed was magic.

MEG KIKKERI is currently a sophomore at Smith College in Amherst, Massachusetts. She is majoring in biology and environmental geo-science, with a concentration in climate science.

Meg was born in Cupertino, California and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, but also in Santa Cruz and Monterey.

After hearing photographer Jodi Frediani give a power point presentation on Monterey Bay marine life at a Rural Bonny Doon Association (Santa Cruz) monthly meeting, Meg enthusiastically asked how she could get involved in the marine world. Frediani advised her to apply to be an intern with Monterey Bay Whale Watch, which Meg promptly did. She was accepted as an intern that summer and learned to photograph whale flukes for identification purposes and how to keep data logs during the whale watch trips.

Meg has also volunteered and been a paid employee at the Monterey Bay Aquarium starting as a freshman in high school when she became a Teen Conservation Leader at the Aquarium and a mentor to other girls in the Aquarium’s Young Women in Science program. In 2016, Meg was recognized by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Paul Walker Foundation for her contributions to studies of ocean and conservation issues, and she was awarded the Paul Walker Youth Leadership Award. The Paul Walker Foundation provides a scholarship to each award winner to pursue marine science/environmental studies in college.

Meg has also volunteered with the Marine Mammal Center in the San Francisco Bay Area and at Woods Hole Science Aquarium in Massachusetts.

You can watch Meg’s story on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIWz-LQRvfE

WHEN THE SEA SPARKLES

One of my most memorable wildlife encounters in Monterey Bay happened this past summer. I was working at the Monterey Bay Aquarium with the Education Program, and I got to live in Monterey for free at some peoples’ houses. I had my Godmother’s kayak with me, which I’d just strap on top of my car, which made me feel so cool! Just driving around with a kayak!

And I know like around August time that there’s like bioluminescence typically that happens in the water. So one day I called up a bunch of my friends, and was like “Yo! Want to go kayaking in the middle of the night and see what happens?” I knew there was bioluminescent kayaking, but I didn’t tell them about it, and they were like, “No that’s weird scary.” And I was like, “No, totally! Like come do it, it’s gonna be totally cool!!”

So I got a group – I had two kayaks, two single kayaks – and then my friends brought like surfboards and paddleboards, and we all came out like 11pm at Lover’s Point, and it was incredibly foggy, and you couldn’t see anything in front of you. And they were like, “Meg. Like what? We’re not….Are you kidding me? Like it’s so….This is no… You’re silly.” And I was like, “No, trust me, trust me! It’ll be so good”

And so we go out, and like, because it was soo foggy and so dense and was so dark that like you could see the bioluminescence like immediately as we went out. And it was like everyone was just like quiet for ten minutes, cause they were like, “Oh my….,” It was sooo magical. It was like sitting there in a kayak like waving your hands through the water thinking about like how amazing like nature is. And like thinking about, “Wow, I’m here right now experiencing this like beauty that not very many people know about, and it’s like, it was unbelievable.

So we kept kayaking out, like passing the Aquarium, and all of a sudden, if you just like stood really still, if you like just hung out with us, you could hear the harbor seals pop up right next to you with their little nostrils, and then just like check you out, then go back down and you could see their stream of bioluminescence past you, which was UNbelievable.

So that was definitely like…. We were out like till 2 in the morning. It was incredible. It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in Monterey Bay.

It all tied together recently. I had brought my friends from college to Monterey, and I was just like explaining why this place was so important to me. And like realizing the difference of like people who’ve never experienced Monterey Bay. And trying to get them to understand why I love it so much, made me realize how important it was to me.

Just Basking with Sharks

Magical Lights