Mermaids
You have all probably read our encounter with the sea turtles and dugongs in Epi but I thought you might enjoy it from my perspective. Rita and I were last to jump over board after arriving at Epi. While the other 4 were already on a coral reef admiring the fish, I started swimming towards them and immediately noted a slow moving object on the bottom of the bay. I signalled Rita that we were over a sea turtle but she had difficulty seeing it until it moved a bit more for her. The turtle was feeding
on sea weed and its back blended in with the seaweed. We followed it for about 15 minutes away from the direction of the others but I yelled that we were on a turtle and the rest came swimming over to observe. Cress had made a number of deep dives during the observations. While the 4 of them continued to follow more turtles, I was the furthest away from the boat when I noticed a very large shadow or shadows moving between us and the 4 others. My first thought was Oh S---! Visions of "Jaws" went through
my brain but as I looked closer as it moved along the bottom the back fin motion was up and down and not side to side so I yelled there were dolphins under us. Relieved of the notion that we were not in danger I tried to follow the object but lost it. Anyway it was both frightening yet exhilarating to see the dugong for the first time.
Hitch Hikers
Last night on our late night watch we were visited by one of the many sea birds that have been around us since we left Fiji. Since I am no ornithologist they are classified by colour and shape. First we have the big white and grey ones who tried to land on the solar panel one evening but were discouraged by the captain as he ran out to shoo them away. One landed on the aft deck and sat there for a minute longingly looking down at Matt while he was sleeping. The second visitor to attempt a longer
stay was a little dark grey number with black wings and a light grey head. He tried the solar panel landing much like a jet landing on an air craft carrier but I was out there with the grappling hook steering him away. He finally landed on the safety rail along side the cockpit and Rita and I let it stay there throughout our shift. In fact it stayed on the rail for over 7 hours, preening its feathers and yes sh---ing all over the deck. The other birds in no particular order are the "swallow tail",
needle tail, white and black (smaller than the white and grey ones)There may be others but I couldn't recognize any others.
Feeding Frenzy
Yes we have been having a thrice daily feeding frenzy on deck. We have actually been able to enjoy eating meals together in the cock pit, not to mention "happy hour" where we portion out our daily quota of scotch, rye beer or Dubonnet. But we were also able to observe a school of tuna? and all of the above mentioned sea birds feasting on the thousands and thousands of flying fish we have been seeing since we started sailing. The flying fish hop out of the water and glide with the wind between the
wave troughs. We have seen them fly over 100 yards away from the boat. In fact some birds have been following us as our hull scares up the fish in hopes of catching them. Anyway back to th feeding, the school of tuna were ;chasing the fish from below and as th fish jumped out of the water, birds dove at them from above. I have seen similar feeding with herring "Balls" where sea gulls and eagles and salmon do the same thing. The flying fish are rally interesting to watch as we saw a large fish (probably
12"+ long) skipping along the absolutely calm water (no wind)using his tail to propel himself as it touched to surface. Most of the fish we see are about 4 inches long.
Who's been sleeping in my bed
Yesterday morning after a rather windy watch from 6:00 am to 8:00 am, Rita decided to go down for a nap in the forward berth. Since it already was very warm out, the front hatch was open. She went into the berth and yelled "look who's sleeping in my bed" and brings out one of our finny friends (poor navigation skilled flying fish). Luckily it didn't tuck itself under the sheets or we would have heard more of a scream or worse yet left undetected would have raised a helluva stink. Every morning there
are 4-5 fish "hitching a ride" on the deck.
Dennis
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