Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Birds, sunsets and flying fish.

Cruising with Papillon
15.00 Local 19 April
Course: 240°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 01h00 UTC: 111 nm
Distance to Galapagos: 153nm
Position 0°32 N 087°57 W

Well the number of birds is definitely improving and today we even saw a Frigate bird all the way out here. Did a check and he is 87nm from land. They cannot land on water so have to fly time. Many others out here park up on floating trees, logs etc if they feel like a break. Last night a Booby made many attempts to land on board his worst attempt being a bum slide over the solar panels, feet out front heading for the wind generator.... luckily he fell of the back. At four this morning some other bird made friends with the wind genny with a thump from the first blade and a twick from the second as it cast it off to the water below with a splosh. A little later there was another flying around us and hopefully it was the one that got whacked coming back to see what had hit him.
When the wind does not blow then the sea turns to glass. Some of the most magical sunsets happen when the sea is like this. The other evening we had been motoring all day and the sea was flat. As the sun set the sea turned yellow and then to a yellow to green metallic colour. This then turned to an orange to green colour and the orange to blue and on to purple. These metallic colours are so beautiful and yet they never come out as such in the photos. So close your eyes and picture a slow moving ,wavering mirror and begin with yellow, then....
There are many flying fish around and in the mornings we throw them overboard. Around here the squid also land on deck and those are for the pan. Unfortunately with the full moon the squid are not around. Since being in the Pacific there is another fish we should enter into the category of flying fish. That position must go to the rays. Time and again you see them break the surface heading for the sky and the wings beating rhythmically ... but to no avail... gravity hauls the back with a splashing belly-flop. Some are persistent and will try over and over again, one going for the record jumped twelve times. Life is always a celebration.
Tday we are making good progress with a nice wind. We put out a line and took it past a large floating log and Bingo... Mahi Mahi. They are so beautiful in the water. As you reel them in the whole family comes along to say goodbye. Today we had over 45 of them around the transom when we pulled our catch on board. Great for supper tonight.... the last for a while in the northern hemisphere. We should cross the equator at around seven this evening. So our first islands in the southern hemisphere tomorrow... it's been a great 8 days. For now it's off to flush the toilet a few times before it changes direction and swirls around the other way... so till Galapagos....

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