In paradise, that is.
Position: 10 degress, 18 minutes North; 117 degrees, 14 minutes West
Came on the morning watch just before sunrise and as the sun came up on one side of Charisma, the moon was on the other and a pod of a dozen or so dolphins came over to play. Pretty nice way to start the day, watching dolphins speed under the bow and leap out of the water on the other side with the sun just peeking up over the horizon.
Mostly today was more of the same trade wind sailing. Make 145 miles in the last 24 hours. A solid 15 knots of wind, 6 foot seas and blue, blue water. The only frustrating aspect is lack of fish. I’m going through all my lures but so far no luck. There’s flying fish all over the place (including on the deck in the mornings), but we’re not catching. I even saw a Mahi chase a flying fish through the air, so I know they are out here. I did get a “hit” of sorts this morning just after sunrise. I was lowering the hand-line lure into the water (I’m using a cedar plug on the hand-line and a succession of squid-like lures on the pole off the other side of the boat) off the stern and to my shock and surprise something very large hit it. Big commotion in the water, twice, but it didn’t take the hook. I’ll be more alert tomorrow to the fact that something might be lurking down there following us. I was actually worried because I didn’t have any gloves on, not thinking there would actually be a fish following us. I wouldn’t have been able to hang on without doing some serious damage to my hands.
That’s about it for today. We’re into our second week now and are about done with most of the fresh veggies. There’re still a couple papayas, apples, oranges and limes, but stuff like green beans, broccoli, etc has been consumed. Now it’s on to the root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, jicama, yams) a few last tomatoes and the cabbages. After that, it’s down to the canned veggies unless we get to the islands first.
I almost forgot, today we launched the first Charisma Oceanographic Duck. Through the use of this advanced technology we’ll be able to chart the world’s ocean currents and maybe even discover new people. What is it, how does it work (you may be asking)? Well, at the West Marine party in San Diego we caught four rubber duckies that they throw into the crowd. These four duckies are now our primary research vehicles. I have written the url of our blog on each and numbered it. As we toss them over the side at intervals along the way, I’m charting the Lat/Lon of the point of deployment. When someone finds one (New Guinea tribesmen maybe? You never know!) they will log on to our research site and note the number of the duckie and the location of discovery. We’ll then have detailed proprietary data of the ocean currents and possibly a new market for our booby guano aphrodisiac product. By the way, we need a catchy name for the guano/aphrodisiac stuff. Any ideas would be much appreciated and the reward is indeed worth the effort.
And a final note to Camanoe Dave; We found some cheddar cheese in the fridge and made quesadillas! Yum!
Hi Bob and Ann,
I’ve looked at the wind forecasts for your neighborhood. I don’t know if you’ve been getting any input such as from Commander’s weather. If you have you can probably ignore what I have to say.
Anyway, it looks like your decision to stick to the rhumb line is smart. The ITCZ will start at about 5 degrees N. The farther west you are, the more you’ll stay in the trade winds. You might go as far as 130 deg W before dipping below 5 N, to stay with the wind longest. In the next week the southern boundary of the ITCZ will dip as far south as 10S, which means very light wind all the way to the Marquesas. The good news is that a week from now, next Tuesday, it looks like the ITCZ around the equator will fill in with 10 knot wind from the east.
I’ll try to blow some wind your way. 🙂
Elan
Glad the wind came up. When I flew for the news, I saw so many wonderful sunrises. I fell in love with the quiet wakening of the day. It’s raining in the WC today, gonna rain thru Thursday. It was 73 degrees and sunny yesterday, 54 and crummy today. All but Elliott were at the house for Easter. Little Madeleine wore her first official Holiday Dress! Too cute! She’s rolling over and sitting up. She can’t get to the sit by herself but she can hold it until the toy is too far away…FacePlant! Again, too cute! Love yas, use your sunblock!
Betty
I can’t say that I saw dolphins this morning or even the sunrise. Yes, normal Wednesday Spin class [Ann understands]. The GoogleEarth pins are stretching across a nice patch of ocean. I hope the trades hold for you this next week or so. On this product naming project, are there any field testing results that can be shared?
That’s a great post! Nothing so exciting here – some rain and lots to do. Had a productive trip to Michigan – so it appears that Melissa will have a place to live. She has almost finished her quilt and I think it looks great. Molly graduates in less than 4 weeks and moves home. She’ll spend July in New York attending a summer arch program at Columbia and I was able to get her a sublet of a one bedroom apt that appears to be just slightly larger than a postage stamp in pictures (subletting by internet – hope it works out). Sending good wishes to Chris who it seems has her exam tomorrow (something with 4 letters I think). Hoping Kelly hears soon from the school of her dreams (and that it is a positive message). I’m thinking Boobylicious might be an interesting name for you product – maybe you can get Beyonce to do promos. Looking forward to your crossing the Equator and learning about the ceremony that you all devise. Not sure how wide angle your camera goes – but it might be a good time to use the flexible tripod that Missy gave you to capture the event and include both of you (unless you can train a booby to use the camera). Maybe Ann should make a mermaid tale that you can wear swimming across the site – do you still have to wig? Too bad you didn’t bring any fireworks! Did you all hide eggs for each other on Easter?
Congrats on your anti-aircraft spotlight invention. You need to paint a booby silhouette for each “kill” on the boat as a trophy record. 🙂 I don’t know about your guano product ,dude. People have been trying to make a killing in guano for hundreds of years. Don’t recall any billionaires. However, some ideas – Booby Blossoms, BG No.9, Booby Amore, Poopdeck XTC, Booby Poopsy, Dreamboat Drops, G-Rapture, Guano Goodnight. Copyright ’em!
BoobyXO or XboobyO boobylicios ! love the duck research program! Can you eat flying fish?? xo Joan
I love SJK’s idea for boobylicious! Maybe just be honest and call it “Oh Sh*t!” LOL.
Camanoe Dave says he misses cheddar cheese. Although we are eating the Chihuahua cheese from Mega and it’s a bit like a cross between Jack and Cheddar. Nice for ham, cheese and tomato grilled sandwiches. BTW – you should post your bread recipe! And the home-made yogurt process info!
So, Pat checked her bird app on the iPad. What kind o’ boobies you got? (Ann please disregard the question :)) Blue footed, Red footed, Brown, or ? I’m guessing the plain ol’ browns. Their range seems to be further out from land (or feet-wet in ‘Nam pilot talk).
Hi – just catching up on your blog. Our trip to SA was fantastic! That is a place I’d love to go to again, but then the world is a big place. I’m so glad we bought that camera, it took great pictures (I think) although we still have lots to learn about it. Look forward to seeing your pictures too. Travel Safe!
How about Booby Time if it’s going to be an aphrodisiac? Belated happy bday Bob. I am still just amazed that y’all can send blog posts and read replies via Sail Mail in the middle of the dang ocean. I told my folks this and dad said that y’all are probably just sitting down at Berkeley Marina having a cocktail, with the joke being on us. So make sure to send a photo to dad when y’all reach the Islands!