Amazon Adventure Day 11 - Last Dance, Last Chance, Last Cast

Catch of the Day (and Week and Year) - HW with Wolf Fish

 Fishing Day 6:

Guide: Ciru
Native Guides: Nee, Bep bu Di
Fishing Beat: 2
Quote of the Day: "It's the dry season. But it's also the Amazon Rain Forest."  - Brian
Other Quote of the Day: "The wolf fish is the stupidest fish." - Ciru
Other Other Quote of the Day:"I told you." - MW 

Rainbow over the Iriri River

Our last day fishing was ushered in with thunder, lightning and a driving rain overnight. By morning the rain subsided. A few light showers gave way to a spectacular rainbow over the boats, a mystical gateway to our last day on the river.   

Ciru was our guide today. We told him the same story we've told every guide the last few days. More wading and less fishing from the boat. And we'd like to get a wolf fish. 

This clip was supposed to end with me catching a fish. It didn't. 

Ciru tried. Anywhere a wolf fish might be found on our beat, he put us in a position to catch one. With some of the most spectacular river scenery yet. We did catch more fish. More peacock bass. More piranha. But no wolf fish. Until...

It was late afternoon. Time was running out. Last day. Last afternoon. Ciru guided me to a spot where a feeder stream flowed into the Iriri. I was casting across the stream to a rock face under a tree. Another likely wolf fish lair. Harlan was wading upriver with the native guides.  Far enough away that we could barely hear the commotion. I saw Nee running back and shouting. Ciru looked at me and said "He has a wolf fish!".  I said "Go get the picture!" There was no way I could get across the stream and to Harlan's location in time. "Wait. Do you have a camera?" Ciru shook his head no. I knew Harlan left his in the boat. "Here..." I tossed my phone to him. "If it locks out, the pin is [REDACTED]". Ciru was across the stream and out of sight in seconds, heading to Harlan's location, carrying my phone with my entire life on it, and with the pin that accessed everything. No matter. Getting the picture was the only thing that mattered now. 

He got the picture. A lot of them.

Harlan later described what I did not see: 

"We spent 7 days at the Kendjam Camp fishing on the Iriri River. Caught 8 species of fish I’d never seen before but the Amazonian Wolf Fish had evaded me. On the last day, in the last hour, on my last cast before heading back to camp I caught this beast. The native Kayapo warrior behind me, Bep bu Di, jumped in to the neck-deep water to net this fish. An amazing experience all around." - HW

Amazing indeed. What a way to finish. Almost mystical. 

With the magicians: L to R - MW, Nee, Ciru, HW, Bep bu Di

Our last dinner at the lodge tasted particularly good. 

A magical day. A magical week. A magical trip. 

All that's left to say is  "I told you."

Oh wait. Almost forgot. The Requisite Daily Token Heller Fish Pic...

Larry also caught a Wolf Fish.

One Day In - MW Morpheus Log 11/21 3:00 PM Ship Time

Miles Traveled (over water): 239
Miles Traveled (as the crow flies):139
Miles To Go (to Antigua): 2,483
Heading: 290
Average Speed: 7 knots heeling to starboard on a port tack

We're ove 24 hours at sea.  As I type this at the Nav Station, it's 3:00 PM, and I just finished my third watch. Enjoyed the first hints of sunrise on my 5:00 - 7:00 AM watch.

 Captain Jim feared the winds would be so light that we might be mostly motoring for the first couple of days. Turns out, we've had wind enough to sail most of the time and we were sailing for each of my three watches. Weather is beautiful and a rainbow greeted us on the horizon.

We have 5 souls on board and a 4 person watch schedule. Two hours on, six hours off. Doug, Mike, Jim, and the Cooks watch (Deb and Kim are sharing the cook's watch). We've had the Canary Islands in sight for most of the first day, and only now are watching El Hierro recede in the distance.

We're settling in to boat life and no one is seasick thanks to the miracle of modern medicine.

As per the usual drill, nicknames have been assigned to coffee mugs - El Capitan, First Mate, Sailing Spice, and Ballast (me) were retained from previous passages. However, Doug needed one. Our provisional working nickname was "Iceman" based on his favorite movie "Top Gun".

 Circumstances demanded his nickname be revised last night. I relieved Doug on our 2nd Watch at 5:00 AM, and he retired to his cabin. About an our later he was staring up at me at the foot of the companionway and saying "Why did you wake me Deb? I was just on watch an hour ago."

I explained that I was Mike not Deb, and that no one awakened him. It was a dream. Doug considered that for a few moments, than retired again to his cabin. His new nickname is "Sleepwalker".

The night watch offered a spectacular moonrise. This is always an impossible to resist but difficult and inevitably disappointing photograph. Two attempts from two photographers and two camera/phones.

Foreign Vocabulary Lesson of the Day: 

Swedish: Mångata - "The word for the glimmering, roadlike reflection that the moon creates on water."

Context Free Thought of the Day:
"Turning door handles make it easy to close the hatch." - Captain Jim

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My intent is to cross-post daily logs to MW Mobile Blog and Jim & Deb's Morpheus Sailing Blog from SailMail while en-route. Due to the technology limitations, these will be short, text-only posts. I'll backfill pictures and video once I am home again. Eventually.

PostScript - As a courtesy I give all on-board an opportunity to add comments here on the bottom of post prior to transmission if they so desire:

Captain's Comment - We have a great crew for this trip. Not only do we have Mike and Kim back after helping us with the West to East Atlantic crossing 5 years ago, but Doug Jorgensen has joined us. Doug is a lifelong sailor that I met in college and have sailed with many times since. Doug flew to NZ when we first launched Morpheus to help us get her ready for her first travels. Great to have him back!! - JG

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Sent via SailMail, http://www.sailmail.com

Picking Up Where We Left Off - Touring a Volcanic Island

On the original itinerary, today was to be our embarkation date for our transatlantic passage. Concern about low winds and high waves delayed our departure for another day. We spend the morning continuing to pack and prepare the boat before Captain Jim declared Morpheus ship-shape.

That left us (barely) enough time for a power tour of the island. A few days earlier, while waiting in the airport on the flight to Tenerife, Kim asked a local in line for their recommendations of things to see and do. The answer was succinct - drive to the top of the mountain and go to a black sand beach. After a scramble to find a driver we were on our way. Captain Jim decided to stay with the boat and double check preparations.

It's been a recurring theme on this west bound transatlantic adventure that we are picking up where we left off after making the east bound crossing five years before.  True for assembling the crew, true for eating and drinking, and it was true for touring a volcanic island. In 2013 it was tour of Faial after we landed in the Azores. In 2018 it is tour of Tenerife before we depart. Some pictures from the day.

We drove through the rain and fog into the cold volcanic moonscapes at the top of Mount Teide.

The summit is often shrouded in clouds, but we climbed into sunshine and amazing atmospheric conditions.including an ice rainbow (ice halo? icebow?).

As we cross the summit and descend on the south side of the Island through the Corona Forestal National Park the terrain gets greener, wetter and warmer

The sun sets, and we find the beaches along the promenade of  Puerto de la Cruz in the dark.

Mission accomplished. Island explored. Tomorrow we sail.

Passage Provisioning, Preparation, Packing And Nerves

Rainbow over the marina - a good omen.

We'll be departing from the Santa Cruz Marina in Tenerife. We'll be following the in the footsteps of Christopher Columbus and..

... as Captain Jim notes in his blog, we even have a full-size replica of the Santa Maria at a nearby berth.

It's a busy marina in a modern Spanish metropolis where we can find everything we might need for the passage across the pond. But there are no marinas, repair shops, or grocery stores between Tenerife and Antigua, so we've got to get this right.

Making sure the boat is properly packed, prepared and provisioned for a crew of five expecting a two to three week passage of open ocean sailing is a big job.

Although never easy, it's old hat for Captain Jim and First Mate Deb. Deb described her plan and thinking in the Morpheus Sailing Blog:

How Much food Can 5 People Eat Over 16-21 Days?

"I know what I’m serving for each meal. I know which meals I’m pre-cooking and freezing in the Air B&B each day. I have my shopping list sorted for each day. I woke up this morning dreaming about all the little things I need to do and figure out… “Don’t forget the garlic press. Do I have enough oatmeal? Does anyone take sugar in their coffee?” What am I forgetting? ...

Other favorites will be appearing, like Tory Kane’s Tex Hash, Paula Tye’s awesome lasagna, and Jane Taylor’s Chicken Jambalaya. All easy 1 pot meals that freeze well. There’s also flexibility in the menu so if Mike W. catches a fish we can have sushi, but it would be best if Huey Nah were with us!"

As I outlined in a later FB post, the assembled crew is pitching in, although some provide more help than others ...

"We" are doing a lot of cooking in preparation for the trip...

As anticipation of our departure draws near, it's inevitable to feel a mixed sense of excitement and trepidation at the adventure ahead. There is always something to be nervous about with a journey like this. As I said after our last passage when we learned of unfortunate mishaps by other boats making the same crossing:

"The reality is that a journey of this nature requires a properly equipped and well maintained boat you can trust as well as a captain that knows the boat intimately and makes right decisions. With that, you may not need good luck, but you still need to avoid bad luck.  It also helps to have a guardian angel like Gibb obsessing over waves weather and wind conditions with continuous updates via sail mail."

Nervous Thing Number One - Not Enough Wind
Gibb, our Weather Guardian Angel is again looking over our shoulder this passage and...

... he has some concerns, about the very light winds forecast for our departure date, prompting Captain Jim to consider a longer and more southerly route:

On 11/18/2018 10:23 AM, Captain Jim wrote:

Well, this makes me think a bit.  According to the analysis done by my friend Gibb, we will arrive in Antigua at the same time regardless of whether we leave on the 19^th, 20^th, or 21^st. 

The case for a one day delay or a detour to Cape Verde islands is getting stronger.  Cape Verde adds aprox. 300-400 miles to the trip so call that an extra 2 days travel time plus any time we would stay on the island beyond getting fuel. Thoughts…  - Jim

Nervous Thing Number Two - Too Much Water (Big Waves)
So while we are on the Southeast side of the island...

... this is happening on the Northwest side of the island in Guarachico:


Nervous Thing Number Three - Mummification at the Nav Station
For reasons that I cannot explain, over lunch, Doug decided to relate a story he read about a sailboat lost for years found floating with the Captain mummified at his station. I called bullshit and checked with the Google Machine. Turns out it actually happened:

Mummified captain found in 'ghost ship' he sailed in for seven years after death

"A MUMMIFIED captain was found in a mystery boat drifting 40 miles from the shore...still sat in the seat where he is believed to have died... The grey corpse, which was preserved by dry ocean winds, hot temperatures and the salty air, still sat at a desk near radio equipment on the 40 ft yacht called Sayo, which was partially submerged... It is not year clear when he died, but no one has reported seeing him since 2009."

So yeah... 

... I didn't need to know that.