Sea Lanes & Land Lanes (Nov 30, 2015)
When I came on watch at midnight the chart, as always had lots of news.
Among the myriad of information displayed, the details I noticed involved
the water depth. We were 42 nm from a 5000 m contour, at the time in 5259
m, but this is the last of this depth of water. From hereon in, towards the
coast, it be less than five thousand metres. I am not sure what the
fascination is with travelling across deep water. I think I am intrigued by
the communities below of weird and wonderful creatures, some as yet
undescribed, most in the aphotic zone. While we discuss our salt and pepper
shakers and the function thereof, there are new creatures below us, waiting
to be discovered! Wow! The other piece of information of interest, is that
we are 130 nm from Australia! The pink line on the chart demarks our EEZ
(Exclusive Economic Zone). Soon we really will be almost home!
Sea Lanes and Land Lanes
No road rage on the high seas
Just lots of sirs, madams, thankyou and please
Politeness rules
No room for fools
Oceanic resilience
From seaboune independance
Floating spaceship
Limited resources trip
Watch the weather
Small community together
Know your vessel
With all the systems wrestle
Handyman upon the sea
Upon every motor depend – you see
Know your boat
Keep it afloat
Pantry like a grocery store
In the chiller even more
Down the stairs with a grocery bag
Don’t even need to scan the tag
My favorite way to shop
Into the pantry pop
Choose the fare
To fill the dinnerware
A dozen ways to do the same
Nothing on the table tame
Lots of spice and herbs galore
Has our diners wanting more
Wobbly farmers-that’s what we are!
Drive a boat, not a harvester
Same skills you need to survive
Lots of guts and lots of drive.
(Written by Micheline Jenner)
More on the Deep Sea News reveals a few beaked whale squeaks and a curious
sighting by Curt in the sunrise hour of a possible killer whale chasing
another animal. Full-scale, fast surface splashes got his attention but
sadly, the speed we could not match. No sounds on the acoustics, in stealth
mode, most likely.
An albatross sailing by on our portside, also got our attention and racing
on deck to get photos, we were thrilled. It was a Wandering Albatross,
about 4 years old due to the white markings on the body. Albatross as known
in the Genus Diomedea are wonderful, but Wandering Albatross – well they
take the cake. With a body size of 1.1 to 1.2 m and a wing span of 2.5 to
3.5 m, these are the largest of the albatross. Recently, we saw a
documentary where an ornithologist indicated that if you had seen a
Wandering Albatross, you should treasure that sighting. He suggested that
they could be extinct in 20 years due to human pressures. I have always
treasured any Wandering Albatross sightings – but today, it meant even more.
Go well, young bird, may you grow old – really old.
Two sleeps and we will be home! Yahoo!
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