Sailing Monarchs

Good morning everyone. We enjoyed a terrific overnight passage last night. The full moon was brilliant as it stood overhead during my 0000-0400 watch. The shadows of the rig and sails were as clear as if it were daytime. We were thankful for the helping hand from Mr. Moon as we threaded our way through numerous oil and natural gas platforms, mostly lit with a dozen or so exceptions. Dark in the shadows of the waves one could occasionally glimpse out of the corner of ones eye the faint image of an unlit platform. My advice to my watch mates… look with the sides of your pupils as well as the centers. I call this the intuitive eye. You swear you saw something but when you look straight at it, there it is, gone. For those of you who really want to read into that one, life lesson #237, trust that what it may, take energy to see what really is there. It takes work and your life may depend on it!

The other great thing we have seen off shore in the Gulf of Mexico are monarchs….everywhere by the thousands. Monarch butterflies…gotta go, gotta go, gotta go to Mexico (I stole that from a favorite childrens book). I swear I saw many of these butterflies just up in Maine while we were sailing about a month ago. How cool is that! We were also visited by a winter wren that flitted between our feet searching for crumbs on deck and a few tiny insects. I am not sure where the wren is headed but it hitch hiked 150 miles with us. It did not sing its song, one of my favorites and the longest of any bird I know of lasting a full 30 seconds or more on a single lung full of air. So I will have to be patient and wait until next windjammer season when the monarchs and wrens return to Maine.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

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