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American Spirit II - Day 38; Joel Saves Big Bird!; Monday, February 10, 2014



Not mentioned on the day's previous log because I sent it in early, was at 5:15 PM Sunday a large white bird, with black and white wings,a long neck and orange beak; along with a 3 - 4 foot wingspan, made a pass over our 2 fishing lines and his left wing got caught in one of the lines. Not the hook, just the line. He went down like a Nazi ME 109 during the Battle of Britain in the English Channel. Splash! As Joel Heyne donned 2 fishing type gloves, I reeled him in. He just sat in the water trying to swim under water and get away. We stopped the boat and turned the motor off. After what seemed like forever of reeling him in, the bird made it to our transom and looked up at Joel, who pounced with lightning speed, grabbing the bird's long beak with his left hand. He never knew what grabbed him. If you've ever seen a puppy dog look up at you, that is what this bird looked like looking at Joel. The bird flapped his wings a little, but stopped as Joel unwound the 40 pound fishing line from around and off of the bird's left wing. This delicate procedure took about 2 minutes. Once done, the bird took off and flew 2 feet off of the water, not gaining altitude until he was 75 feet from the boat, then he soared up and flew a few circles around the boat. On his final pass, he dipped his left wing and raised his right wing, in a kind of bird salute, straightened out and accelerated; and then he was gone.

Between 8 and 10 Atlantic Spotted Dolphin entertained us off the bow from 1:30 PM to 1:40 PM. Early in the afternoon we also saw a large splash (I mean a LARGE splash) off our starboard quarter. Probably a bill fish like the Marlin I hooked previously, chasing another fish.

At 7:01 PM we were entertained by jumping dolphins a little ways from the boat. One of the boats in the Rally reported encountering a group of Pilot Whales. These are small whales as whales go, with the males getting up to 21 feet in length.

After sun set, the Southern Cross was visible 20 degrees above the horizon. The Southern Cross is like the Big Dipper in the northern hemisphere. Sailors use it to steer by as it represents 180 degrees or due South. The Big Dipper with the North Star, Polaris, represents due north or 0 degrees.

Only 4.5 miles away is the sail boat Saphir. We've been sailing with them for a couple days now. They've been visible and we see them on our chart plotter with their AIS identification. At 39 feet, they are similar to our boat (40 feet).

Brian Fox





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