Where Eagles Dare

There were quite a few bald eagle sightings during this trip. Several appear to be nesting on or near the lake. This low level pass over the bay was one of several seen over a couple of days from the deck.


The object of the eagles attention was a small dead pike lying on the bottom in about a foot of water - just out of reach of the eagle's extended talons.  Eventually the pike floated to the surface, drifted closer to shore, and the patient eagle grabbed it (unfortunately, a little too quick to grab my camera).

17th tee Portrait w Alcoholic Squirrel

He really wanted that beer.

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Abalone Season Reopens - Dive Day 1 2014 Abs Number 9 & 10

With the late start, we missed the morning low...

August 2014

Day	High	Low	High	Low	High	Moon	Sunrise	Sunset
Fri 1	2:32 AM PDT / 4.45 ft	8:52 AM PDT / 1.21 ft	3:30 PM PDT / 5.28 ft	9:55 PM PDT / 1.89 ft			6:15 AM PDT	8:26 PM PDT
Sat 2	3:28 AM PDT / 4.06 ft	9:32 AM PDT / 1.64 ft	4:10 PM PDT / 5.39 ft	10:56 PM PDT / 1.64 ft			6:16 AM PDT	8:25 PM PDT
Sun 3	4:40 AM PDT / 3.74 ft	10:19 AM PDT / 2.07 ft	4:56 PM PDT / 5.53 ft			First Quarter	6:17 AM PDT	8:23 PM PDT

 ... but instead were rewarded with brilliant sunshine to augment the great viz and benign swells in the protected cove.  It was a low high and a high low anyway - tides often associated with good visibility.  We were not disappointed.

Some pics from a great kickoff to the second half of the 2014 abalone season.

Gearing up...

... and climbing down.

 

Conditions were great.

Checking out the GoPro (Will update post with vids eventually. Really):

 Sights from a great day of diving:

Ab in the wild

Harbor seal checks us out. Again.

An unusual sight...

A Mola Mola in the cove!

We were seeing a lot of jellyfish in the cove, which is a possible explanation for the Mola Mola guest appearance:

Unusual sea creatures sail back to Monterey Bay

"SANTA CRUZ -- Helpless in the wind and sounding like a nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, velella velellas have returned to the Monterey Bay in droves... Warmer water is bringing other unusual sights, including more sightings of long-beaked common dolphins, Cummings said. Black said she's also seeing more Risso's dolphins, joining the bay's resident Pacific white-sided dolphin, which prefers cooler temperatures. Black also has seen another odd sight: sunfish, or mola molas, have been gobbling up velella velellas (which is a mouthful, so to speak). "I've never seen a sunfish eating a by-the-wind-sailor in all my 28 years," Black said..."

This one was probably a juvenile as Mola Mola can grow quite large. This guy also had some chewed fins.  A possible explanation from Wikipedia:

"Sunfish are most often found in water warmer than 10 °C (50 °F); prolonged periods spent in water at temperatures of 12 °C (54 °F) or lower can lead to disorientation and eventual death. Researchers theorize that surface basking behaviour, in which a sunfish swims on its side, presenting its largest profile to the sun, may be a method of "thermally recharging" following dives into deeper, colder water.Others point to sightings of the fish in colder waters outside of its usual habitat, such as those southwest of England, as evidence of increasing marine temperatures...  Sea lions appear to hunt sunfish for sport, tearing the fins off, tossing the body around, and then simply abandoning the still-living but helpless fish to die on the seafloor..."

The Mola Mola sighting was a bonus - our primary day one objective was met:

We took two each for our first day.

Apres' Dive

Plenty for a traditionally prepared pan fry dinner.

Name that arachnid

 This was cleanup day at the lake house. Generally that leads to pretty boring blog posts.  So instead, we'll feature some of the local denizens which which we share our living space on the lake house.   Looking for arachnid identifications in the comments. For extra family credit - identify the exact spot where the photo was taken.

MW Ship's Log May 18 - Home Stretch

Dateline: 10:00 A.M. Sunday May 19

Status:
200.19 nm traversed on Day 3 of the Sao Miguel to Cascais passage. 235 nm to our destination. All sailing all the time. Jib deployed and double reefed.

It's the home stretch and it feels like it. Morpheus is like a thoroughbred champion that smells the finish line, lengthens her stride and accelerates down the final stretch. Despite being reigned in by her jockey with a double reef she posted our second 200 nm lap of the passage.

We've been measuring progress in 24 hour increments since our 10:00 AM departure from Sao Miguel. This benchmark now occurs during my watch. Today, in the last minutes before the 10:00 marker Morpheus maintained a consistent 10 knots of boat speed and hit 11 knots twice. First time I've seen an 11 on my watch. It was like she wanted to be absolutely sure we got over that 200 nm milestone.

It's been blue skies, blue water and puffy white clouds as we make a beeline for Cascais. Throughout the day we've had dolphin escorts show up, check us out and then mostly disappear as the cameras hit the deck.

Hopefully, we've got a couple of good shots.

Weather is cool, but not particularly uncomfortable. The occasional rogue wave keeps any cockpit spectators in foul weather gear, but the ride is worth it. A comfortable wind angle and Morpheus making great strides.

The evening watch brought another milestone - we passed the halfway point from the Azores to Portugal. The celebration was a bit more subdued than the halfway celebration on the first leg of the passage.

Some modifiers were added to my mug label. I am sure I don't know why.

 The inflatable pirate hat was recycled and the Captain poured out a parsimonious rum allotment. We're out of ginger beer, so rum punch was the drink of the day. The traditional first toast to Otto the autopilot was tinged with a note of sadness. The realization is sinking in that this extraordinary journey is coming to an end.

Bob gives Otto a break.

Early in the passage I watched the moon rise off the bow during my late night watch.

Last night I watched the moon set directly aft.

Dinner:
Kim's ginger garlic chicken curry tomato and spinach goulash. You name it. It's in there. Excellent.

Quote of the Day:
"Woo Hoo" - The 5-6-7-8 Band from the Kill Bill V1 soundtrack. Played during the half way celebration.

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MW Log May 14 - Whale Tails and Long Goodbyes

Dawn - Pico Island from Faial

Dateline: 8:00 A.M. Wednesday May 15

Status:
42 nautical miles to the harbor in San Miguel. 822 nautical miles to Lisbon. Mostly sailing since leaving Horta. 19- 25 knots of wind. Some squalls overnight and another one on the horizon. 

El Capitan is a little nervous with a short handed crew

Before departing Faial Tuesday morning I took the opportunity to join an 8:30 AM whale watch tour aboard a zodiac with Pedro's Horta Cetaceos.

Pedro's pre-tour briefing

It was a bone-jarring ride to the South side of Pico Island but worth it for some spectacular sightings and (relatively) close encounters.

Three species of whales spotted (Blue, Sey, Fin) as well as dolphins, turtles, and sea birds.

 Worthy of a stand-alone post which I will update on the blog with video at some unspecified time in the future.

At 3:00 PM we extricated ourselves from the double mooring, motored over to the marina office, re-docked, and checked out.

 By 3:30 we were underway and heading for Sao Miguel Island.

 A sunny pleasant sail around the south side of Pico Island following the same route of the zodiac whale watching tour earlier in the day.

It'll be a 3 person watch rotation until we pick up Bob - two hours on, four hours off. We figure it will take Bob about the same amount of time traversing airports and flights from California as it will take us the to sail the 108 miles to Sao Miguel. We should be back to a four man crew in a few hours, then on to Lisbon and the end of our transatlantic passage.

Dinner:
Cold pizza

 Addendum:
 It looks like we got out of Faial just in time.

 As we departed we noticed the notorious catamaran Firefly ominously lashed to another catamaran of similar design. No doubt the Reavers aboard were already feasting on their brains.  A fate we narrowly avoided only a few days before.

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MW Ship's Log April 29 - The Bird is the Word

With Morpheus under sail again - two events were nominated for Most Interesting And/Or Surprising Event of the last 24 Hours.

A dramatic squall line formed off the port quarter and commanded the crew's attention in the morning hours. Low, dark, gray, with the well defined sculpted wedge formation characteristic of a cold front.

 It looked like we might finally be passing from the sunny and warm Caribbean-like clime we have enjoyed thus far to something cooler, cloudier, grayer, and more in keeping with our expectations of an Atlantic passage. We got the rain, we got the wind, and we even started to get a bit cold, but a few hours later it was again sunshine, blue skies, and sunscreen. After the squall line passed we tacked - and after four days on starboard tack, we are now getting accustomed to Morpheus leaning on a more liberal tack.

But - hands down - the unanimous winner of the day's MIAOSE24 - by a 4-0 vote was The Bird.

Five minutes before cocktail hour Bob was buzzed repeatedly by a small bird. As the crew assembled in the cockpit to discuss the day's events, the bird continued to circle and finally landed under the dodger.

Wren sized, bluish, with a split tail and burnt orange breast feathers, I'm guessing either a swallow or flycatcher. Definitely not a seabird. How he came to aboard the Morpheus 400 nm out to sea is a mystery. The bird was clearly in distress. It either had no fear of humans or was too exhausted to care.

 He hopped from dodger to knee to shoulder to head, made the rounds of each of the crew and even perched on my finger for a while.

 After a few more circles around the boat he settled in under the dodger and kept us company during cocktail hour. We tried to help it restore some energy with water and sunflower seeds. Jim shaped a towel into a protective nest under the dodger and put the bird in it for the night.

Alas - it did not survive the night and was buried at sea in the morning.

In other news - I am receiving a lot of unjustified and wholly inappropriate complaints about my coffee from the whiners aboard this boat. I'd just like to state for the record that in two previous 14 day passages, Debby never ever complained about my coffee.

Just sayin...

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