Fun days, light winds, mammals everywhere
13 August 2015 | 41 12'N:39 20'W, Still North West of Azores
Donna
Check out those wild 2$ readers...!!! Sexy. Well, I promised myself these last few days that I was going to work on my sense of humor and have more fun. I decided that moments of being becalmed should make for a great opportunity to get a good swim in. I have a had two days in a row of getting a refreshing swim. Playing with my feet in the water. I asked myself...What would my grandchildren being doing out here with all this time on there hands? Well, they would certainly be dangling their feet in the water. They would probably be trying to climb on the boom. Zebedee and River would be fishing. And they would find a way to role play in their imaginary world of pirates and sea monsters. Well, yesterday and today were amazing days for creatures. Yesterday, a pod of dolphins swam along with me for an hour or more. I hung over the side and tried to get the gopro into the water to watch them swim. I didn't quite angle it right but it is still cool. Earlier that day, I had seen a smaller pod of very large dolphins or p orpoises. they were all one color, unlike the smaller dolphins that are white on their bellie and specked and grey on their back. The larger mammals stayed farther off, but it was so calm I could see their blowing from far away. Today, though, I could almost agree with my grandchildren's imaginations. I had just had a large fish spool off and shred my line (again...it is now fish 4, food 0) When I saw to the south a long fish with a long bill, a sword fish?...jump completely out of the water 4 times in a row like it was running from something...But what? Then not a half an hour later, I was messing with my fishing tackle trying to figure out what to try next and over my shoulder, not 20 feet from my shoulder off the stern, a whale? at least 15 feet long, lumbered out of the water and slipped back in..it didn't blow. If I hadn't been on deck at that moment, I would have missed seeing it. I watched and it surfaced sevreal more times with a thick blunt head and it had a dorsal fin...But it was no shark or maybe.? i can't believe i came out here without a whole library of field guides to everything. The interesting thing to me was that it swam past my boat going the other way, passing me so closely. I am delighted when I see the stormy petrels return sometime each day. Today there were two. Yesterday there was just one and it was bouncing along the surface eating as if doing a jig. It was fun to watch. it got me thinking about playing some irish music to get some energy going playing my irish drum. But I managed to get distracted. This morning there was also a solo Boobie...I don't know why they call it that...a lovely brown soaring bird that has rings of black and white around its neck. i guess i shouldn't always be so surprised at the solo appearance of these creatures out in the middle of the ocean, especiially being a solo sailor myself, but it is interesting that they wander so far alone. My radio has developed a short of some type inside. I have reworked all the wires and the frequency of problems is increasing. Yet, it is remarkable that it seems that at some point during the cruiseheiimers' net on 8152 at 0830 EST (-4) I do manage to get propagation and connectivity to call in my position. I also had a good chat with a boat Pelagic that is now in New Foundland heading to Ireland. It was great to share stories. New Foundland is definietley on my hot list of places I want to sail to. They said it was magical and the music was wonderful. I do have a spare radio it just means setting it up on my counter. it wont fit in the space my present one is in. At this point, I am still managing to get time for my Celestial sites and check in to the net so i will procrastinate a bit longer. I am in a conundrum with fishing. I keep setting up rigs and losing them. i have changed the set up each time to allow more absorbtion of energy in a bungy cord but when a fish really hits the line, it blows off the bungy and next thing I know, long before I can even make it to the deck, the line is slack and the rig is gone. I am really frustrated as i planned fishing into my provisioning to some extent. I won't starve without it but...I really needed to have that real heavy hand line lbs test. So I looked through my box and I have a couple hundred feet of leader wire...125 and 135lb test. So I strung that all out there with a lure on it...The bungy is in place. If I lose this rig...I think I may be out of ideas. Somehow this new reel may be heavier or have more drag...I am rooting for ideas. But 50 lb test just isn't big enough. It was the biggest they had at the local fish bait shops so I figured it must work. But then again, I don't have a reel and pole and maybe that p revents shock loading that seems to be the culprit. Wish me luck. I brought lots of wasabi. Soo... Celestial Nav...my most recent success has been using the 'down and dirty' method I found in a book and then the same idea was preseented by my CN guru friend who I have consulted on email. So...it relies on a good noon site with a way to get that. And finally, yesterday, my calculations actually came within 5 miles of being where Bob's faithful position report showed me to be. I am getting close to going it on my own. The plotting actually revealed that I had made an error in my DRing earlier in the day. i was a full degree farther west than i had thought. I am still procrastinating the paperwork for today's sights. I will see how i do. My course has been variable with very light and variable winds. I have been all over the p lace with courses. Plus, the weather forecasting is showing that the azore high is very north. In order for me to stay in a good flow of wind, I realy need to stay a bit farther north. The very center of the high is over the islands and there is no path for me to cut through to save some distance heading to the Cape Verdes. It appears at this point that i will need to go north of the islands and all the way to the trades coming south on the east side. Luckily for me, I am in no hurry. it is lovely. I am doing some fun writing. I dictated a fun little skit between me and Wise mother Ocean. I write children's books with Wise mother ocean. But truthfully, I find a deep reality to the conscious connection I have with nature and especially the ocean energy and life. So I personify the ocean in the character of Wmo to have a little fun retelling some of my earlier sailing antics and storm highlights. I wanted to add a little humor to my writing...it doesn't come natural. But it is amazing how I lose many many hours into the night with a good writing spree. Well, that is one of the reasons i am here..to allow myself to write. The Inspired Insanity has settled into our journey i think. Systems are go and we are in a good routine. The frayed line ends are whipped. S/S has a bit of a shine. Now if I can just catch some fish...
keepin On Sailin On a Dream....making the most of the calms to bask in the ocean waters, sea monsters and all. ahhh. Fairest of winds and the love of the ocean... Donna