Here is an excerpt from a book in the works called Ocean of Insight: Faith, Climate Change, and How the Atlantic Transformed One Woman Sailor. Enjoy, H.

Ship’s Log: March 2, 2011, 16:50—Buck Island off Saint Croix, US Virgin Islands

Slithering from the dinghy into the chop of Caribbean waters, I arrive disoriented into a blue world. Air bubbles gurgle noisily across my mask and ears. Beams of sunlight flash at sharp angles—like laser lights at a discothèque. A lengthy stretch of Elkhorn Coral is today’s snorkeling destination.

But, getting my bearings, I note something is wrong. Everywhere—horns lay snapped from their base. Like the day-after carnage of a civil war battlefield, broken coral bodies rest in unnatural postures—bone white, dead. Here is the brutal byproduct of climate change.

Without warning, a multitude of Blue Tang swarm from behind, brush past my skin, flick bursts of water across my back, belly, and face. Bruise-colored fish somewhat smaller than a salad plate ride on a gust of nothing. The ghostly effect reminds me that life here once teemed. I suddenly feel exposed, accused.