You find some of the most interesting things at sea. Like the Boobie (I'm talking birds here), Shearwaters, petrels, dolphins, porpoises etc., etc. The tuna we catch are magnificent looking (and tasting) creatures. Then there's the weird misfits of evolution, like the flying fish. These things look like herring with slender wings the length of their bodies. They're amazing as they fly above the ocean's surface, usually in groups (schools?) with somewhat reasonable control. Then they crash into a wave at 10-15 mph, and their gone. As we sail through them, they seem to scatter in all directions. And there's the problem. They tend to fly onto the boat, and land all over the place and flop around wildly. And they STINK - really bad!

If they hit you as your standing watch in the cockpit, you'll know it, turn on your headlamp and flick them oven the side. If you don't see or hear them over the boat and wave noise, you soon smell these disgusting little creatures. And when you grab them with your fingers to toss them over, you can't get rid of the stink they leave on your fingers. We typically get 3 to 10 onboard each night. The ones on deck, stay until we throw them overboard in the morning. The ones in the cockpit get chucked over asap. Okay, enough of that.