Today I saw my first sea snake ever. It was kind of a greyish dark green with a bright yellow stripe, about three feet long. It had a really small head and mouth, and was shaped a bit differently than your average land snake. We saw it because we were both looking over the side of the boat watching jellyfish and regular fish swimming around. There are these small striped fish (they look like what one would have in an aquarium) that are always swimming around the boat, and all of a sudden they took off in a big group right up to the surface and started milling around something, and that something turned out to be the snake. I ran and got the camera - I think we got pictures of it. We tried.
Between the snake and all these jellies, I am not going on swim call out here. The jellies have to be seen to be believed. There are literally hundreds of different kinds of them, all different sizes, shapes, colors, consistencies, you name it. Some of them are incredibly beautiful, with delicate shaping and neon colors that flash like LED lights, visible even in the daytime. There are great big ones and little tiny ones that look like bits of plant matter until you look close. We have vowed to get a microscope kit and a specimen net, and handling gloves.
Of course I have to admit I would not get to see all these incredible creatures if we were going faster. At 1.5 or 2 knots per hour, you can sit on the side of the boat and just watch the creatures go by. We are learning who is out at what time of day, who seems to be bold and curious and who is shy, who squabbles with other species and who does not, and all sorts of things. It is like being at the zoo or at an aquarium all the time. If we motored along, we would miss all this.
Right now we are motoring - we do motor about an hour each day to charge the batteries. I insist that Mike put it into gear and get somewhere since we have to do it anyway. We wait until there is a period of no wind (inevitable) and then take advantage of what would be just drifting along to make some progress. I hate the noise as much as he does. But I am putting it to good use right now - using the computer to write this, as well as charging the phone (which we can only use in port or close to a cell tower when we are offshore) and my Kindle. Finally, the engine performs better if it is used regularly.
Yesterday in the afternoon we came across an entire herd (for lack of a better term) of sea turtles. We usually see them on occasion, but yesterday it was one after another, two and three at a time. Many of them had boobies riding on their backs, and almost all of them had bird poop on their back. (Because we were drifting along almost becalmed, we were able to get up close and see all this.) I figure maybe they are all headed to shore for mating and egg laying. I have never seen so many! And some of them were huge!
We are just over 100 miles from Huatulco, so I think we will make it some time tomorrow. Famous last words! It all depends on the wind of course - I am settled in for the duration and will not fight it. Last night I found meat that had gone bad - I think we are just about out of anything that was frozen. All that is left are a few vegetables that will be eaten today and tomorrow, and some lunchmeat and sausage that is probably indestructable and shouldn't be eaten anyway because to survive that long is not natural and frankly a little scary. I have a lot of soy chorizo - that will stay good for a long time. The beer is getting warm - I will be surprised if our one daily underway beer that we have in the late afternoon is still cold. We will see how long the eggs last.
So that is it for today from somewhere off the southern coast of Mexico. It is strange to think of how far east we are because I always think of Mexico as being a western place. We are really far south, too, possibly further south than I have ever been before.
"You can sail for one day, can't you? That's all it is - one day after another." Harry Pidgeon, three time single handed circumnavigator
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Whee another posting! When I read your blogs I can feel the sun and the tepidness that seems to go hand in hand with a windless day. How wonderful to just sit and think, something I don't get to do enough of. We are doing well. I have had rehearsals all week for two different shows, one goes this weekend and then I can relax a bit and just concentrate on the big play. Lots of little things, but nothing so demanding as the two shows I am on right now. I must admit I read other sailing blogs now, and look at boats and dream. I think about single handing a boat and how to make that work....ah to dream...
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