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Circe - included photo for blog



Amongst Dragons

It’s common belief that medieval mapmakers marked unknown territory with the phrase “Here Be Dragons”. It actually only appeared once on a 16th century globe (Google cred to sister Stacy) yet the phrase took hold and has made its way into historical fact as well as fiction. In fact, this is one of Captain Barbossa’s best lines in “The Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. I’ve always thought it an interesting turn of phrase to apply to the unknown. But the words do an excellent job in conjuring up the mysteries clearly thought by medieval man to exist beyond the horizon.

This morning our position was 16 10. 341” N 43 32.643” W on a course of 267 true. I’m going to go with the fantastical and say we are now amongst the dragons. So, in the absence of these mythical creatures, what do we actually see?

Wildlife has been at a minimum. Other than the occasional flying fish, we have gone days and not seen so much as a bird blown off course by a storm or a porpoise at our bow. But then to our delight, as happened two days ago, a porpoise will launch itself 10 feet into the air as if to say “Look at me! Look at me! I might not be a dragon, but I’m flying!”.

After 9 days of sailing in clear, midnight blue water, we began intermittently spotting clumps of sargasso. The frequency of it has been on the increase to where it is now a constant sight along the surface. This observation will be particularly noteworthy when we stop to take our SeaLabs samples as they ask us to note field conditions observed at the site of collection.

Also remarkable is what we don’t see - any other boat. It’s been 6 days since we’ve spotted a mast in the distance. We know they are out there and based solely on reported positions of several of the ARC boats, it’s fair to say that rally boats have fanned out from north to south across the trades much like a dragon spreads its wings.

Other than the waves, the swells, the celestial bodies, we haven’t seen much else in this formerly uncharted body of water. Whatever else medieval man thought existed here that we have yet to see, it’s still rather exhilarating being amongst the dragons.



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