When navigation is like a videogame

Salsa af Stavsnas
Ellinor Ristoff Staffan Ehde
Tue 25 Sep 2012 06:04
(This story is written before we left Spain but forgot to publish it)
So we decide to leave seven in the morning, it is still pitch dark.
But before we continue the story let me tell you about fisher MEN.
Spanish fisher MEN come in different boat sizes, everything from oceangoing vessels to small rowing boats that are smaller than the men they carry. It is really a miracle they don’t sink, they are so small that the belly comes out on one side and the back on the other.
The bigger boats are a challenge out at sea, because fisher boats do not follow a track that is linear, just as you think we are safe they change track again and again. We do respect their hard labour but it is sometimes hard to navigate past them.

The fisher MEN in the "miniminimini" boat are not going far, they are usually crowded outside a harbour or a bay. They sit there all day waving one or two arms up and down, up and down with no sign of fatigue. We have never seen anyone catch anything, but they come out at five in the morning and start pulling their lines, up and down. They also talk to each other from boat to boat. There is sometimes 25 meters in between each boat so it can get quite loud.
When we anchored in ”Mera” we probably put ourselves on a mans favourite spot, so he just anchored by us and started fishing, and talking…

So as they pull and pull and sit there in the dark you might think they would stay out of the traffic lane. No way! They are everywhere!
So as we leave our anchorage and pass the pier we are first blinded by the huge spotlights they have right on the pier. Then when you pass you can’t see anything. The moon is small like the nail you trim of your toe.
These fisher MEN are out there, but you can’t see them. They have no lights on, probably to save their batteries. What they do is that when they feel that they are in danger they will flash their light at you.
This is getting very exciting! As you aim out in the dark, following the light from a lighthouse or a buoy, there is suddenly a white light coming up in front of you, so you turn starboard, and there is another one, you get the picture?
It is like playing a game where the odds are not on your side…