Dorado and More Dorado

One of the nice things about being underway in a slow sailboat (compared to powerboats that is - Magda Jean is a fast sailboat) is that you really get a good look at a lot of different kinds of fish. This morning, we again had dorado hunting along side of our boat. Little fish swim in a huge school right along side us all night. And today we noticed a whole bunch of different kinds of fish "drafting" along our keel, just like people do with big semis on the freeway. It never gets boring. I took a video of a hunting dorado and if it turns out, I will post it. We have our handline out, but I almost hope we don't catch one of those beautiful fish, even though they are great eating. Another problem with catching these particular dorado - they are HUGE. There are only two of us, and only a small refrigerator, so it would be wasteful.

There is still little to no wind. Lst night I spent all my watch switching the genoa from port to starboard and back again. Just when I would get everything settled, the wind would shift and I'd have to do it all over again. Because the wind is so light, that means I have to walk out to the bow and drag that big oversized sail around by hand. It is taking us WAAAY too long to get to Manzanillo in my opinion. Mike does not seem it mind one bit. He will run the engine just long enough to charge up the batteries, and the rest of the time is content to drift along at 1 knot and even less. If I did not insist in putting the engine in gear so that we can make some progress while charging up the batteries, I think he might actually just idle it rather than power the boat along. But the seas are smooth, so at least it is a comfortable drift. And - never to be taken for granted - we are consistently going the right direction.

Tonight we will be having a pot roast that I will fix in the pressure cooker. The meat is out and thawing now. This often means we will surely catch a fish. Especially once the meat is thawed and it is too late to put it back in the freezer.

We are passing up a number of anchorages that I had originally wanted to see, but I also want to get south. We spent over a year in Mexico and will not have come even close to doing it justice. We saw a lot, but it is a very big, diverse country. I love it and hope to come back and spend more time. I feel like I am in a long goodbye process with Mexico - in a few months we will be in El Salvador.

Well, there is not a lot more to report on just now. Nothing is broken, the seas are friendly, and if there is no wind and we are drifting - well, at least we have no schedule, are warm and comfortable, have plenty of food, and plenty of water and the ability to make as much as we need. So what more do we really need?

"Some will rob you with a six gun, some with a fountain pen."

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