entering the home stretch

Notes From Lee – Log Date: June 11, 2007

It has been rather cold here the past few days to the point I have five layers of clothes on. I didn’t think I needed to bring my winter woolies to the Equator. The combination of humid air, wind and colder-then-normal temperature drive right through to the bone so layering is key and it gives you the ability to adjust as the days warm to a balmy 60° and overcast skies.

Throughout the past few days we have seen many birds going every which-way. Sometimes we would see them gathering in large masses, knowing they must be onto a large school of fish and feeding on them. Today we came close enough to one of those feeding frenzies to witness the event. A large mass of birds was assembled in the sky above, but it was on the surface where all the action was. Five to ten of these birds would drop out of the sky from fifty feet up maintaining their formation and then tucking their wing in just before entry to produce very little explosion of water plumes as they pierced the water’s surface. But that’s not all. They were doing this with pinpoint accuracy for they had to avoid the nearby team of dolphins making a bid for the same prey. Then up and out of the green sea, lazily along with its big feet came a sea lion (dork, dork, dork, dork) “Hey guys, save some for me”.

The night was yet to come and also, especially for me, a sight that will be etched in my mind forever. The night had to be set up just right for this to happen. We have had nights like this before but not all the elements were in place. I will set the stage for you.

It was late evening around 09:00 hours. The daylight had gone around 06:00 hours leaving overcast skies (we had never seen the sun this day), so it was dark but not pitch-black. The sea was perfectly calm with not a breaking wave other than from our bow and the wake from our stern. When this happens, it produces a phosphorescent cloud under our small sailboat that leaves lingering ribbon trails behind. We were placed in a very peaceful and calm state of being. Then just off our starboard stern side, streaks of phosphorescent trails started appearing. There were just a few at first and then a few more. These streaks became more and more intense and were becoming continually closer with a heading fixed dead on our boat. We are being torpedoed! Then came a sudden burst of brilliance from the heads of these trails. Then, in what seemed to be only seconds, they were upon us. The surface was breaking with a flurry of action and the trails were becoming all twisted in perfect unison and form. And then we could see that they were our friends, the dolphins! Because of the phosphorescent trail, we were given a spectacular view of their graceful travels through the water with such precision and speed. I became so totally entranced at the show before and all around me that nothing else mattered; not the cold, or the damp, or the home-sickness, or the tummy, or the solitude. Nothing but the great pleasure of witnessing this event. It was vane of me to think that the dolphins were doing this only for my pleasure. It was not for some time that I realized our sailboat’s phosphorescent plume had attracted a huge school of anchovies and the dolphins were busy feeding on them. Fishing for anchovies is a big industry in these parts because of their abundance. But nevertheless, Zigfield would have been envious of their ability to put on such a water folly as never before seen!

Lee On the Sea of Tranquility

PS. Camera / photos were not allowed