Now that I have returned from the “kingdom by the sea”, to quote Poe from his hauntingly beautiful Annabel Lee, I will no longer be encountering the lovely Nereids. I will however have ample opportunities to encounter the equally lovely elusive and dangerous wood or forest nymphs, otherwise known as Dryads (from the Greek word for tree).

The world is too full of different kinds of beauty in different places not to believe in a divine creator of it all…

Like some mythical kingdom from the Golden Age, my pleasurable tropical paradise is coming to an end. The Nereids I have come across, so many lovely sea nymphs, so alluring and yet so dangerous, are now returning to their mysterious, caerulian realms. Fortunately I have survived. I will write about my adventures when I return home, weary and happy to see my people, like Odysseus.

After returning safely from a long journey to unknown places,the ocean deities must be thanked and honored. Amen.

Yes, sea nymphs are dangerous, but how can any man really resist such creatures? I certainly can’t.

In the land of tropical beauty, a simple sailing excursion is fraught with danger. You may think the clear, azure skies and placid ocean might presage a delightful and relaxing day of leisure. And all that might be true–for a while.

But amid this calm repose a Nereid could appear at any time. The image above is actually the last photo that was found on a missing sailor’ s camera. The camera itself was discovered on a small vessel that was reported missing at sea a few years ago. The boat was eventually found, empty, abandoned, and without any clues as to what happened to its small crew of three. There were no signs of struggle or distress, everything was in its proper place, no calls for help were ever heard over the radio, no, all that remained was this one, final photo on the captain’s camera. It was as if the crew had vanished into thin air.

The case still remains an unsolved mystery for the authorities. Last I heard, they had all but given up on ever finding out what happened to the ill fated crew of this small vessel. For those of us, however, familiar with the long and difficult history of Nereids, we know that this photo solves the mystery of what happened, and what happened proves once again just how dangerous those Nereids can be. They are beautiful and alluring, but they are creatures not to be trifled with, and really to be avoided. The end is usually quite bad for the mortal men who succumb to their erotic powers.

Still, like the vanished crew of this lost ship, I doubt I could resist such beauties, even to my own detriment.

In my post yesterday I mentioned one of the more famous Nereids, Calypso. This exotic creature lived on the island of Ogygia. The daughter of the Titan Atlas, she is best remembered from Homer ‘s Odyssey, where she detained Odysseus for several years as her love interest.

Recently Southern Man and Suzy asked that I provide proof of my tropical excursion. Southern Man asked specifically to see a photo of me with a drink in one hand and a beautiful woman by my side. I therefore offer the above photograph to those so interested.

Even to this very day, Calypso’s allure is still quite powerful. This is so much so that a film noir character like Robert Mitchum, a man, like Odysseus, well versed in the art of handling the femme fatale, was clearly susceptible to the magic of such a beauty. And if Mitchum cannot resist such creatures, what hopes do the rest of us lesser mortals have of ever doing so?

This is a more contemporary view of a Nereid, or Sea Nymph. Now, before you hope to find yourself in the presence of one of these lovely creatures, be careful. Like any of the divine figures from Greek mythology, the Nereid can be quite dangerous. Beautiful and alluring, stunning and provocative, the Nereid’s sexual enticement often proves to be problematic for those unfortunate, or fortunate enough, to encounter them. Even the great Greek hero Odysseus became a captive and lover of the beautiful Nereid Calypso during his many journeys. Only the intervention of the goddess Athena helped gain his freedom.

Then again, being the lover of a Nereid such as Calypso, or the sea nymph above, does not sound like a bad fate for one of us mortals.

In the fanciful world I am currently visiting, I am surrounded by many Nereids. A Nereid is a sea nymph from Greek mythology. I shall make them the theme of my sojourn to this tropical paradise. Time is short right now, so I will write more about the Nereid later. For now, simply enjoy the lovely images of various sea nymphs I will post.

The painting above is from one of my favorite Renaissance artists, Raphael. He also was a lover of beauty. I love the harmonious composition of this painting. It is a depiction of the sea nymph Galatea, and it was renowned in its day for its idealized beauty.