So you think offshore sailing is boring, eh?
19 May 2011 | Off the coast of Bahia Tehuantepec
Peter
Then check this out.
I took the 0330 - 0630 watch last night. spent most of the shift reading from our cruising guide about the Tehuantepec-er, or the 'pecker' that is a nasty wind that builds up a short, steep chop. So short and steep that it has its own name. We are headed there at this moment. On top of that it turns out we are now officially in hurricane season! So now we have to thread our way to Hawaii without riding "the big one"!! So that kept my attention for a goodly sum of time reading about all of the nasties associated with those two events.
In the middle of my watch I notice something wrong with the masthead light. As I look closer it looks like a dark piece of material -- possibly from the jib leech sunshade -- is fouled at the top of the jib. In the twilight I get out the binoculars and it turns out to be a bird!! The darn thing has managed to get itself stuck up there and can't get its foot out. At least, that is what it looked like. It was pecking at something like it was trying to free its foot. Anyway, after about 45 min. it flew away (thankfully). I was wondering how I was going to free the thing from my bosun's chair without getting pecked to death!! As it is, I'll have to climb aloft now to make sure it wasn't pecking at wiring or something else it shouldn't have been.
I get settled back into the watch and notice a pod of about 50 dolphins all coming to play with Time Warp's bow wave. "Let me on." "No it's my turn!") Anyhow, they continue to amaze and entertain. This pod was smaller than the previous ones, with a bunch of young ones as well. The young ones seemed to really enjoy jumping completely out of the water rather than just breaking the surface with their air hole.
As I am admiring the pod I notice "fish on"!! So I spend a few moments battling this epic sea monster. It was small -- maybe only 5 kilo. But the way it corkscrewed had me thinking it might be a baby bill fish (again) like the marlin we caught earlier. Jim described how they will sometimes corkscrew. Anyway, I bring my big catch of the day proudly aboard to find out it is a bonito that has succumbed several hours earlier. I think being dragged behind the boat, like being pulled through Main Street behind a horse, was just a little too much for the guy. Besides, Main St. ended up being about 20 nm long!!!
We threw the fish in the cockpit trying to figure out what to do with him when about 0630 we see a boat approaching. It turns out to be a Mexican/American Coast Guard cutter, probably doing drug interdiction work with (or for???) the drug lords in Acapulco! They slow down and took a good, long look. I asked Jim if this is when we should be scurrying around the deck and cabin! He didn't like that idea. Then I had the great idea of wrapping some of our clothes and rags (it's hard sometimes to tell the difference between the two!) into some of the plastic bags we have and wrap those in duct tape and start throwing them overboard. He didn't think that was such a keen idea eitehr.
In the end we settled on throwing our illegally-caught bonito contraband over the side and destroying the evidence before they arrived. Whew! That was a close call!
A couple of hours later Jim announced that "something" took one of our lures and snapped the 300 lb. test! My guess is there is a(nother) marlin swimming around needing some dental work!
And the day is just getting started!!!