Graptolite - Captain's Log Supplemental
Graptolite's Sailing Log
Martyn Pickup & Heike Richter
Fri 15 Feb 2008 16:57
We had an unpleasant night when we ran into another unlit tuna drift net in
a squall. It took some time to hack ourselves free but as we still had some
net wrapped around our prop we had to leave the scene under sail. A few
small local fishing boats stood off but offered no comment or assistance.
The very heavy rain, and some big ships crossing nearby, didn't help the
situation either.
This morning at 07:00 Shin (James Bond) Terosawa used my diving gear (first
time for the stuff in the water) and chopped off the remaining net and
floats with a knife. Apart from some dodgy English, Shin has been a really
good find. Besides needing no instruction in sailing he's an enthusiastic
cook, photographer, engineer, diver and probably a lot more things we don't
know about yet. I'll be sorry to see him leave Grapto in the Galapagos.
Three miles to the south, we crossed zero degrees South and the rain started
up again. We hove-to, my last bottle of champagne was cracked and we feasted
on sausage, eggs and an expensive can of luxury imported Heinz Baked Beans
from St Lucia. The significance of the baked beans and HP sauce perhaps lost
on somebody who normally has soup and rice for breakfast.
As homage to tradition I also had an all-over No.1 haircut. It was curiously
liberating.
M