Green in the Blue

My 6am wake up call came with a bonus: dolphins friends again! It was hard to get out of bed, but their shimmering streaks in the water, luminescent lights were a great reward. Brian and I tagged off so that he could get some rest. I marveled at the infinite sky, the lightly coloured belt of the galaxy, of comprehensions far beyond my scope, light years of travel and our vastly small world and sphere.

Dozing a few minutes before sunrise and concerned at our due south course, hand steering and hoping for wind to the west, I appreciated a pinking sky. The solar flare returned to my world once again, born of a liquid womb, an orb of florescent fuchsia, as big as we had seen it only hours ago at sunset, I began to hear short yet deep gasps from the water. Finally a chance to see these dolphins in daylight!

The ocean in this part of the Pacific is so sapphire blue and clear as glass, the only variable that removes visibility is the breeze we need, rippling and slightly distorting the surface and our views into the deep.

First six dorsals sliced the surface of the water, then 8, up to 12. Breaths revealed backs that glistened shades of grey and contoured by muscle. The mammals wove around each other and the bow, grew in numbers and played with each other. I woke Brian for the morning treat, sunrise to stern and friends at the bow. We could clearly see these stealth and intelligent creatures below us and wished them a good morning when they broke the surface. Pondering what message this pod could have for us, I thought since this is the first we’ve seen dolphins in the daylight, perhaps their food supply is changing or more abundant. A mix of waters, temperatures and nutrients are often causes of more sea life and this must mean that wind is on the way! Their squeaks and chatter audible to us confirmed it.

The dolphins were curious about the riders of this sailing vessel, swimming sideways to peer up at our distorted figures through the barrier of our worlds. A few times one of them emerged as if standing from out of the water, to its midsection, to check out the steel wonder, also grey and powerful, work its way to the wind.

At one particular swell in front of us, the swimmers threw their bodies into the air, arching and flying. Ten or twelve must have heard us wish them a good morning and replied with jubilant elation as a reply.

This pod escorted us for about an hour, cruising along our bow, checking me checking them. I wanted to wear my fins and join the posse, the first ginger dolphin! After watching and marveling these creatures, thinking what a past life they must have had, noting scratch or claw marks behind their dorsals, they darted away, to join their families, hunt or due to a sense of danger.

Winds are steadier now, coming from northwest and forcing our course off slightly but at least we’re moving!

We busied ourselves today, as a Monday ought to be: full of work, projects, some stresses. The day started and ended well, with a handful of dirty projects in between. The bananas are very ripe so I made more banana bread, doubled the recipe and added apple sauce for moisture. A great improvement over the first batch. I tried cookies without butter, and they were no muffookie (muffin texture cookies I often baked for coworkers at Cypress) but they were cookies on a boat!

In the meantime, Brian changed the impeller on the motor, hoping for improved cooling, even though the old impeller worked just fine. Trial and error in replacing parts will hopefully yield results. Together we worked to fill various hoses and potential problem spots with water and pump them out to suss out a clog. I also finished painting the anchor chain, the gnarled mess of rusty metal now steel and bark coloured. I probably breathed and absorbed enough aerosol chemicals today to warrant hazmat status. Brian was growing frustrated with the motor but kept composed and persevered in meticulously checking each potential trouble spot. Monday crept into my patience levels when parts of the anchor had to be resprayed and were a tangled disorganized mass of rusty metal coated in half wet paint. But the job is done and will be left for sorting tomorrow. Our coffee break consisted of jumping into the dolphin’s habitat, and acting quickly to grab the back of the boat while we were under sail.

Running the behaving motor, we began a citrus fermentation project with oranges going bad (ps bad idea) and watched the dolphins once they’d returned to play in our bow’s shadow after their day of whatever they’ve been doing. It was probably more lucrative and fun than what we had busied ourselves with.  As this morning, one stood out of the water and smiled Kayak’s way. These lovely, intelligent and fun animals’ visit was a great end to our work day.

Soaking up sunset and a rum & oj, we were happy to rest and share company and vantage points. Again, the seabirds struggle to land gracefully and balance on the mast’s crossbar. They bicker and squawk at each other when a new recruit attempts to join. We have three little birds along for the ride this evening, adventurous fowl. Singing sweet song, a melody pure and true, singin… don’t worry about a thing: we have wind!

@10:30pm

14°  55’ N

108°  57’ W

Travelled 62nm

~1-5 knots / hour

Breakfast: Fruit and fresh cookies

Lunch: Sandwiches with tomato, avo, cuke and hummus

Dinner: Spanish rice with tomato puree, beans and vegetables