OUT OF AFRICA

6-30-11

A rusty colored residue was found settled in the grooves on deck this morning as we swayed on a mooring ball off of Christiansted, St. Croix.  We clean and polish Exit Strategy’s rigging on a regular basis, so it was odd to find so many rusty traces about the topsides.  Astute “First & Last Mate” that I am- I immediately alerted the Captain.  He merely tsk-tsked at my report and said that had I been up early enough, I would have heard the radio news reporter explain that an immense African dust storm loomed over the Sahara Desert last week and the dust was carried here and deposited throughout the Caribbean Islands over the past few days. 

So, we have seen the sands of the Sahara without stepping one foot on the great continent of Africa.  (AND the cleaning of the rigging can be stalled for another time.)

Another Lip Piercing

...or Yet Another Fish Story
   We were moving along at a pretty good clip as we made the 35 mile crossing from the eastern coast of St. John to St. Croix-USVI.  Captain Dan said we were probably going too fast to put out a pole, but a few moments later that's just what he did.  It wasn't long before the drag on Dan's Ugly Stick (fishing gear brand, for you nonfishing readers) began to reel!  Then it stopped abruptly.  I suggested that we bring in the line to check the hook for seaweed.  When he began reeling it in, his drag began screaming again and the line was being pulled out at a high rate.  Dan held fast to the pole and tried to tighten the drag, but in an instant the line snapped free! The size of our lost dinner must have been great because the eyes on the rod were bent flat.
   So there is yet another huge fish swimming around in the Caribbean waters with a colorful, huge, and often expensive lure piercing its lip compliments of the crew of Exit Strategy.

We suspect it could have been a fish like this one.
(Thank you, Google Images.)

   

Trip Home

May 25-June 11, 2011
       It was no surprise that Captain Dan had the vessel in tip top shape when I returned from a trip back home to attend family parties. My God-daughter Kimmie celebrated her 40th birthday in style at her house in Dunedin, FL. in late May. Then our son's family asked me to come up to their house in Indianapolis for a visit, so while there I drove up to Michigan for the weekend to see our daughter's family and my Mom. 
        This morning having my coffee on deck in Honeymoon Bay,Water Island- USVI, I look out over the channel to St. Thomas and am reminded of sitting on Kimmie's terrace with a morning cup and watching the manatee glide by and the mullets jump. At this hour, Honeymoon Beach is quiet and calls to mind the whimsical sight of barefooted Lyla, Mino, & Maya digging in the small sandbox behind Grandma Glista's house.  I find comfort daily that both the sun and moon that rise and set are the same represented by Lyla's sun-moon "clock" in her room.  And these warm memories will fuel me until my next sortie stateside.