Today is one of those perfect weather days where the ocean is so blue it hurts your eyes and the swell is just great enough to remind you that you are afloat. We awoke in Z-wat bay to fine a light coating of dew that Craig used to clean the grime of our days of Sailfest off the deck. Leaving at first light we put out a fishing line with a diving blue sardine and hoped for something large. Lo and behold, that something large was a PANGA! Yes, Craig caught a panga with two fishermen and a 4 foot sailfish. The fishermen declined to give him the sail fish, but were kind enough to return our well worn lure. As they motored back to their long-line string, Craig reeled in his line. Those professional fishermen had cut it so perfectly that all he had to do was reattach the lure.

A little while later, after Sue had turned over the mid-morning watch to Craig, we spotted a disturbance in the calm water ahead. A pod of fifty or more dolphin were racing toward us, leaping out of the air, spinning in mid-air as they landed in the crystal clear water. They continued in their play as they passed us. A few of their comrades decided to come over to SEASILK and have a look-see. They played "the game" for about 30 minutes and then left us for points unknown. Have I told you about "the game" lately? No, well "the game" is all the rage in dolphin circles. No matter what you are doing (fishing, cruising, etc.) if a sailboat comes by you have to immediately stop what you are doing and race to the sailboat for a round of "the game". Now Sue and Craig are not quite sure what the rules of "the game" are, but they are sure that you get more points for crossing the bow of a moving boat and probably even more points depending on how close you come without touching. Finally, there must be a bonus if you can pull this off while swimming upside down.

We just passed Port Lazareo (means lizard in Spanish). I would assume there are lots of iguana on the rocks or something. Anyway, for us, since Port Lazareo is one of the largest in Mexico, it means lots of big ships going and coming. We watch carefully for big ships because we are so small they can't watch for us. We have a piece of equipment onboard that listens for the Automated Information System (AIS) broadcasts that big ships are required to put out and when it intercepts a signal that indicates a close call for SEASILK, we take action to avoid a collision. Because we have the AIS receiver, we frequently have many miles more warning of a close call than we would if we were relying on our eyes alone. The receiver also gives us information about the ship; like his course, speed and usually his name. The name is very valuable because if you want to contact the big boy and tell him that little-ol-you is nearby, you can usually do that much better if you are calling for "Cargo Vessel Ohmy this is the Sailing Vessel Seasilk 3 miles off your port bow, than if you calling for "Big Scary Ship off my port starboard quarter, this is the itty bitty sailing vessel you are about to run down!" Anyway, you get the idea. At night, it becomes even more important because it is harder to gage speed and direction. The AIS receiver coupled with good seamanship, a good lookout and radar keeps us safe and sound.