Yesterday was long day's mostly motoring again in hot, sunny, calm conditions. We managed to sail slowly downwind on the Code 0 for a few hours escape from engine noise. I had a nice salad for dinner.
This time when I came on watch at 2100, the moon hadn't risen yet and it was very dark out. Sailing in the dark makes me more vigilant about checking safety gear and making sure the boat is properly sorted out; I confess to being a bit lax when the moon is shining brightly. While I was neatening up some lines, I looked over the side of the boat and was taken aback by the sight of a huge white sea snake slithering rapidly on the surface towards me. It was about 20 feet long, it's head the diameter of a dinner plate, it's body tapering to thin tale. I'd never seen or heard of a such a creature before and, frankly, it frightened me a little. Then I thought, oh, it's just the foam from a strange wave. Wrong. A half dozen more giant white sea snakes were heading rapidly my way, like an army of basilisks out of Harry Potter!
I leaned over the side of the boat to get a closer look at, as I am prone to doing when dangerous creatures, like orcas, come alongside. Upon inspection, it turned out that the sea snakes were really the long white bubble and foam wakes from a bunch of dolphins swimming fast, just inches below the surface, who decided to pay Intermezzo a nocturnal visit. So much for discovering a new species of marine life, but I admit to being happy that there aren't giant white sea snakes swimming out there at night. I went up to the bow to watch the dolphins play in the glow of the red and green navigation lights. They had a blast and I enjoyed watching them.
As we drew near to Puerto Angeles, Renee had her fishing lines and scored another catch, a small skipjack tuna. It was filleted 30 minutes later after anchoring. Guess what's for dinner tonight?
Puerto Angeles is a pretty little harbor with a couple of nice, small beaches, a few palapa restaurants and a big ugly concrete dock.
We're heading off to explore and grab some lunch now.
