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August 6, 2000
Solomons to Australia voyage - Update #19
Lat/Long as of 14.42 hrs local time
12 degs 54. 67’ S
150 degs 32. 55’E
Day 20. Wind ESE 15 knots. Heading 260M
Yesterday the game I created of Fish and Ships got more interesting. In the column of ‘fish’ we now have several entries. A Dorado fish and his little band of followers have recently joined us. He’s about 18 inches long, yellow/orange with iridescent blue gills. I’ve named him ‘El’ (no prizes). I first noticed him yesterday while washing my hair on the back deck. He was there again this morning when I cleaned up the breakfast dishes, eagerly awaiting the left over porridge scraps that I dumped off the starboard side. On both occasions El and his band were on the starboard more sheltered side away from the waves. This afternoon however I was watching incoming waves on the port side when I noticed El gliding down the body of a wave two feet above the hatch. I knew the wave was going to hit us spot-on and could have sworn I glimpsed a horrified look on El’s face when he realized collision was imminent. I imagined having a lap full of madly flapping Dorado fish, then attempting to get a grip on his slippery sides enough to eject him back into the sea. But, with a few fast, fishy maneuvers El managed to avoid being catapulted through the open hatch. Not so the wave which drenched me completely. I sat there laughing at the comedy of it all.
This evening disaster struck. I was washing an aluminum pot lid and a wooden spoon over the side. The spoon came clean and I had begun work on the kid. My worst fears realized, the lid slipped from my grasp. The disk began a slow shimmering descent into the deep blue abyss. El must have seen the whole thing happen as he immediately gave chase. Oh that he had a hand to grab it. But they both disappeared. I turned to Jason, “Have you had that pot lid long?” fearing it may have come from his mum’s kitchen. “We’ve had it since San Francisco - why?” After I explained what had happened I began searching the cabin for a revised pot lid. No solution yet.
After supper there was El and his followers patiently waiting for their fish treats. And the pot lid? Maybe a shark took a fancy to it. Wouldn’t that make for an interesting story for my fifth graders to create: the continuing South Pacific adventures of a 50-cent Safeway’s pot lid.
April
Posted on August 6, 2000 2:43 PM