In our series of strange nightly guests we have now upgraded from the flying fish that flew straight into kettle. Our latest visitor is a black baby bird.
It appeared in our cockpit in the middle of the night, maybe guided by the exceptionally beautiful and bright night stars. Initially I noticed it moving on a pillow in our cockpit. At first I mistook it as the usual flying fish. After all, in the ocean there seems to more flying fish than water. I was just about to throw it overboard but even through the darkness I could feel its black eyes looking straight at me.
By the way it was not moving I could see it was completely exhausted. With a pillow I built a shelter for it in the cockpit and gave some water and bread. However, despite me being the doorman it insisted on coming in the boat and used its last remaining strength to fly, or actually jump, over my shoulder.
So, now it seems we have a seventh crew member. We are now five humans, Ed the plastic ARC iguana, and the bird of unknown species named Tipsu. This is very welcome for the last few remaining sailing days as we have much extra food and the plastic Ed has been a bit disappointing in keeping his night watches.
Niko
image1