Day 6 - The Fish, The Rain and The Mouse

Mid-morning Scotty saw the line jumping, which we have been trailing off the back of the boat this whole time. In he pulls a "little" mahi. Now, my manly trophy fishers wanted to release the poor, "little" fish. The old trout fishing side of me told them that I would like it on the foredeck so that it could become dinner, please. They grudgingly obliged, hauling the string by hand up the entire length of the boat. I gutted, chopped off the head and tail and tossed the carcass to Davey Jones. And, I thanked the fish for feeding us. Hey, if you are going to take a life to feed yours, you can at least thank the thing. Thank you to my Love, as I "may" have squealed a bit when they mentioned putting the stinky thing in the cockpit. Note to others: fish and cockpit do not go together. That is of course unless it is already cleaned and prepared and on its way to the grill. That is okay. We fed the crew off of one third of the "little" fish, tossed one third as I was a bit lazy to clean out the bones (who knows maybe Davey Jones was hungry too), and have a third in the freezer.

Before dinner, and after the fish catching, I happened to be outside washing dishes. Apparently, Davey wanted a spoon to eat his fish. I am now down a small spoon that slipped right over. I told him that was fine, but if he ever tried taking my coffee press I would be jumping in to take it back. The horizon was nothing but a line of grey misty cloudiness, and rain. I volunteered to stay outside as I was already wet. That ended up being outside in the rain until 1830 dinner cooking time. Which, simultaneously with me trying to get to the galley, just happened to be when the wind chose to shift. Off the bow. Yep, when it rains...So, after engine starting, jib furling, main centering...Oh, I almost forgot. I sent g-ma to the wheel as Auto was already having issues. Steer into the wind is apparently a little more complex than I realized. As we were covering the mechanics of it, we lost our speed. So I reach back throw it in gear and give her some juice. Somehow, we still did not make it into the wind with 4kts of speed until after the sails were fixed. :p Ahh, I definitely don't miss the days of my Love having to explain everything to me that way. At least when I was learning, we had a smaller boat. Eight years will do a lot for your sailing skills. We will make at least a competent deck hand out of her yet.

"So there I was..." (typical Navy story beginning) on watch (another common Navy story) when I saw a shadow...(more common than you would think). The problem is flying fish shadows (Yes, we throw a couple out each morning that have the misfortune of landing topside over the night. Mysteriously, none hope on board in daylight.) do not climb back up. The shadow flitted down the speaker, and I thought "CRAB!," then gained some sense and went "Wow! Big flying fish." Right as I was debating on moving across the keeled over cockpit to toss it back. The shadow went UP the line. Note: Fish do not go up lines. No matter how cold, wet, bedraggled, or late on watch (0300) it is. By some stroke of genius, I managed to remember that I had my headlamp on, and quickly turned it on to stave of the approach of whatever foul, loathsome creature was attacking the cockpit under the cover of darkness. At that point, I screeched, "Ack!!! IT'S A MOUSE." Apparently I wasn't quite loud enough to wake the dead (or even the sleeping in the cabin), but G-ma woke with a start and screech. The mouse was terrified of the sudden light, and scrambling in a tangle of main sheet (almost glad I hadn't tidied it earlier like I should have) just past the foot of her bivy sack. I have never seen camouflage move so quickly. Her feet were at her ear about the same time the mouse saw the cubbyhole in the side. It darted in like its life depended on it. After I secured my light, it took all of three minutes for the mouse to dart back up under the dodger to the "garage." The place out the mid-hatch where we store gas cans and fenders and who knows what else...apparently mice nests. Now, we have to feed one more thing. Oh, and it was dubbed Fabian by my other half just for you Jolie. Before I could name it Noah. So help me, if I find another animal on this boat, I am going to name it Noah so it feels responsible for feeding everyone. :)

Speaking of animals, the baby lizard received a burial at sea with full honors. Ok. So I tossed him in when no one was looking. Quite honestly, I think his eye slits had just opened, so there wasn't much chance. That, and G-ma decided a rock would be nice in the terrarium (lidded box). But, hey, a girl can hope. Just in case you are worried, Murphy is apparently indestructible.

Oh, and for Davy Jones, apparently he does not like being told he will NEVER get something, such as my coffee press. We had winds directly from the direction we wanted to go all night. At 20 kts. So we motor sailed 30 degrees off all night anyway. He threw the swells right back at us. We found a good point to turn East. Looks like the winds will start pushing us back North a little by Monday as we are still barely to Tiajuana off-shore by thousands of miles. We are being paid back by swells that come ripping across the cockpit. At least it is sunny outside. As long as you put stuff on the starboard side it will dry out. It may be a little early to claim victory, but at least I can claim an even hand. AND AN EASTERN HEADING! YAY!

Position at Writing: 30.15.830N 155.33.996W @0835 28.6.13 (Heading 087T!)