John Denver wrote and performed Calypso as a tribute to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his ship Calypso. John Denver was a singer, song-writer, actor, activist and humanitarian who was friends of Cousteau. Cousteau was a French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water.

What we like

• The whole composition is uplifting. It takes us across the ocean as if we rise with the waves or are carried by the breeze to find natural treasures unknown

Soul experience

• Man has explored the earth and gone into space, even left footprints on the moon. But the ocean is still somewhat of a mystery. The deepest oceans are Earth’s last frontier and as Jacques-Yves Cousteau believed the ocean could unlock clues to understanding our planet. The deepest part of the ocean is the Mariana Trench which is located in the western Pacific Ocean. It reaches a maximum depth of 10.994 kilometres, some reports hold as far as 11.03 kilometres. Strangely enough it is not the closest point to the centre of the earth as the earth is not a perfect sphere and because of this the Artic seafloor bed is closer. Imagine what we could learn from the creatures below and how they survive in such a brutal environment

To reflect on

• Like the dolphin who guides you, you bring us beside you
  To light up the darkness and show us the way
  For though we are strangers in your silent world
  To live on the land we must learn from the sea
  To be true as the tide and free as a wind swell
  Joyful and loving in letting it be

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