Sea

MONTROUIS, Haiti -- Marie Carmel Moises, a 22-year-old mother of two, sat for hours yesterday in a dusty two-room clinic cradling her weak 4-year-old niece. And when the other women talked excitedly about their desires to find a boat and flee the country in search of decent lives, she simply nodded.Then, her sweaty face turned serious and she bowed her head. vTC A friend who had died at sea came to mind."It was just last week," she said. "The boat sank with him on it.""It scared me," she added.

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- A passenger plane swept over downtown Beirut and sliced along the Mediterranean coast yesterday afternoon, marking the end of an Israeli-imposed air blockade that had isolated Lebanon for weeks. But a sea blockade remained in force. Israel vowed to keep control of its neighbor's waters until the Lebanese military and international forces were in place to prevent seaborne weapons smuggling. The Middle East Airlines flight from Paris landed at Beirut's airport just minutes after Israel relinquished its hold on Lebanon's skies.

The seas and oceans around us, some two-thirds of our planet, are largely lawless. When, 350 years ago, Hugo Grotius ++ formulated the doctrine of the freedom of the seas, laissez-faire seemed a magnificent idea. ''Let no man possess what belongs to every man.''But this is the age of giant tankers, oil spills that destroy whole coasts, traffic jams in the English channel and the Straits of Malacca, declining fish catches and the beginnings of a gold rush for minerals under the sea that could be the biggest smash and grab since the European powers at the Berlin conference in 1865 carved up black Africa.

The first time I ever saw a whale up close at sea, I was surprised most by its smell -- a fetid, briny mixture reeking of ocean depths and mysterious origins.But it was the sound I'll never forget -- a great whoosh as the mammoth whale suddenly broke the surface of the water.She moved with the slow steady grace of a ballerina, her calf in obedient pursuit.It was only their backs I saw. But it was breathtaking. And with it came a keen sensation of privilege -- witnessing these monarchs of the sea bringing their cycle of life so suddenly to the surface.

It's been more than a century since the three masts of the 186-foot Constellation loomed over historic Annapolis. And if all goes as planned, the historic sloop of war built in 1854 as the Navy's last all-sail fighting ship will return to Annapolis on Tuesday, tying up along the Naval Academy's Farragut Seawall after being towed there from its permanent berth in the Inner Harbor. The Constellation's six-day visit marks the first time the vessel has left local waters since 1955, and in recent years, its perambulations have taken it no farther than the Key Bridge.

`TC NORFOLK, Va. -- Mike Bryner of Beaver, Pa., waited patiently yesterday in the sunny bay-side breeze, a black cowboy hat on his head and a bunch of red, pink and yellow carnations in his hand.After six months at sea, his girlfriend, Ronda Walker, was coming home, along with the rest of the crew of the Navy super carrier USS Eisenhower.Finally, amid thousands of other reunions, the two found each other and hugged."All these years women have been waiting for us," said Mr. Bryner, 26, and also a sailor.

Its fabled pink beaches, crystal waters and balmy temperatures have made it one of the world's most popular resort destinations, yet for all its renown, most people know precious little about Bermuda.Often mistakenly identified with the Caribbean Basin, this small cluster of 150 limestone islands and inlets is, in fact, the northernmost coral reef formation in the Atlantic Ocean.Built on the summit of an extinct volcano, its foundation took form more than 70 million years ago. Today, a chain of seven islands connected by a series of bridges and causeways comprises Bermuda proper, about 22 square miles of real estate that measures 15 miles in length and 2 1/2 miles wide at the widest point.

As they sail east from Annapolis toward France on Monday, the crew of the fleet leader in the Volvo Ocean Race will dine on a repast of roast turkey, mashed potatoes and cranberries. All served up in dog bowls. The meal is rehydrated turkey and slopped-over powdered potatoes dotted with Craisins, heated over a butane burner and served up in deep-dish plastic bowls normally suited for the family pet. All to keep the goop from sloshing out in rough seas. "Real elaborate, huh?" says Richard Clarke, a crewman aboard first-place illbruck Challenge.

ABOARD THE SEA-LAND INTEGRITY -- The ship was five hours behind schedule. Capt. Alan Hinshaw gripped the rail outside the bridge, and his body shuddered each time the cranes slammed another cargo container into the hull.Boom! Twenty-one tons of copper foil. Boom! Seven-hundred and twenty bags of glue.Before the Integrity could leave its pier in Elizabeth, N.J., 2,300 steel boxes had to be loaded on or off. Four cranes worked the deck simultaneously.Boom! Plywood, tulip bulbs, canned luncheon meet.

SEA GULLS ARE NOT the most appealing of birds. These "starlings of the sea" are loud, aggressive scavengers and able thieves. Not confined to shoreline, they flock on inland parking lots and landfills, feeding on human refuse like winged rats. Yet there is little justification to eradicate gulls simply because of their adaptive success and occasional nuisance.Nonetheless, on Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge off Cape Cod, federal workers poisoned the nests of 6,000 gulls in an attempt to restore "avian diversity" on the island and protect two endangered birds, the piping plover and roseate tern.