What is this? It got below 80 degrees last night. I must be getting too far north. I actually had to put on a T-shirt last night, the first time I’ve worn anything but swim trunks in almost 2 weeks. Next thing you know I’ll have to wear a fleece, too. I guess I won’t be Mowgli of the Sea anymore.
Yesterday turned out to be quite entertaining, courtesy of all the marine life. The morning started with a few more turtles, then a large whale surfaced right next to me, just to get my attention. So I grabbed the camera, he swam forward of the boat and leaped out of the water in a full broach, all while I was video taping. Very considerate of him, I would say.
Around midday a flock of boobies joined me, flying in loose formation with my sails, and occasionally one or two would land on the bow pulpit and rest. They stayed with me the entire day, and as the sun was setting they all decided they wanted to spend the night on the bow pulpit. But with 20 birds, they were having a time of it. Birds were trying to match their flight to the bouncing of the boat for two hours, until after dark, all so they could land on the pulpit. It was very fun to watch, and they weren’t disturbed by me at all, even when I sat on the foredeck just a few feet away. Amazingly, 9 of them managed to squeeze up together on that little piece of rail, and spent the entire night there, finally flying off for breakfast when the sun came up today. Why none of them would land anywhere else is beyond me, especially as others had landed on the spreaders, masthead and bimini before. I guess that’s why they are called boobies.
As fun as that was, the highlight of the day was the afternoon dolphin show. Not the really big speckled dolphins of previous days, these were the small dark ones (spinners, maybe?), and were very acrobatic. A large herd of them started swimming with me, jumping out of the water, dodging this way and that, doing tail walks, and sometimes leaping as high as 12 feet out of the water, wagging their tails at me. And yes, I have video! Eventually I will return to the land of broadband, and promise to share.
My direct route to Cabo seems to be working out pretty well, although the sea built up a bit during the night, so I had to reduce sail to slow down, to keep from jumping off waves and slamming the boat. But good progress was made, all in the right direction. Actually, at 173 miles in the last 24 hours, a 7.2 knot average, it was one of my best days since Panama. I should make Cabo San Lucas late tonight, and if the weather allows it I will continue on towards Magdalena Bay-Santa Maria.
5/17 8am 22.06N 108.43W 7503nm gone, 1232nm to go.