Author: Scott
We are 111 miles from Cabo and we are making reasonable way at an average of 3.5 knots. We are sailing downwind with a full main and partially furled jib. Wind speed is about 6 knots. We are both eager to just GET THERE (to Cabo).
Today started out a little different than normal, as Scott was finishing up his second watch of the prior night and the sun was just coming up, we had a visitor in the form of a small bird who was hitchhiking aboard Tournesol. We were about 25 miles off shore and it just amazes us how a little bird can find it’s way out into the big ocean with no place to land. Supposedly some birds can land on the water and never touch land, but I didn’t see any flippers on this guy, so he sure didn’t look like any kind of water bird to me. However, we did learn that our new friend has cold feet. While I was reading my Steven King novel after already video taping the bird in the cockpit, all of a sudden I heard a piercing scream come from the cabin, and I thought Pam had had a sailing nightmare, where maybe she envisioned the rig falling down or the boat sinking. But no, it was nothing like that, it seems our hitchhiker had made his way into the cabin while I was reading and landed on Pam’s bare shoulder while she was sleeping. The cold feet woke Pam and when she opened her eyes the bird flew up to the cabin hatch with wings fluttering. Now you need to understand while Pam has few fears and has faced all sorts of stresses on the boat, she does have a phobia of birds. This would be my equivalent of waking up in a bed covered with cockroaches. As Pam cowered under the covers and yelled for me to get it out of here, I was torn between video taping the event and trying to rescue Pam from the pint sized vulture. I was surprised at how bold the bird was, as it fluttered down on Pam again and strutted all over her blanket as she hid beneath, and yes all of this was captured live on video tape!
After today’s bird incident I confessed about a week earlier we were visited by another bird while Pam was sleeping. I had decided not to tell Pam about the first visit, knowing it would upset her and create a whole new series of preventative measures to keep any future birds outside of our nest. Now we will probably institute a daily bird watch as we each take turns sleeping off watch.
Other events of the day include spaghettios and fruit cups for lunch, the weather is hot and sunny. We had to use our cabin fans for the first time today and the water continues to turn bluer by the hour.
Our engine seems to be behaving better and not throwing off any water. John from Western Grace thinks this is common for boats that head into warmer waters. We will still have things checked out in Cabo or La Paz.
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