Bird Brain and the stars of Marigot Bay
Sy-tucanon
Philip Fearnhead
Wed 23 Apr 2014 16:09
Wednesday 23rd April 2014: Position
18:04.03N 063:05.66W
A racing pigeon (“Bird Brain”) which seems to have lost its bearings, and
is having difficulty adjusting to life without a human slave to feed and water
it, has been making valiant efforts to be allowed to stay on board. Why it
ever thought that a yacht half a kilometre from shore was a suitable perch for
the night is a mystery, but its unsanitary toilet habits spoilt its otherwise
endearing nature. Of all the boats in all the bays, why choose mine?
After failing to cajole the bird to sleep in a box (and contain the mess),
the skipper decided that charity had run its course and shooed it off the
boat. After a quick circuit it was back, unable to comprehend why anyone
would treat it thus. After a couple of disturbed nights it finally seemed
to understand that it should roost ashore, but still returns for breakfast and
dinner. Its thin crop suggests that it is not finding much food for
itself, although there are a number of feral pigeons ashore to show it how.
Snorkelling around the bay shows the excellence of the clear sandy bottom
for cleaning anchor chains, but an almost complete absence of life. The
main life form on the sea bed, swept clear continually by anchor chains, is a
large number of large golden star fish. Presumably they are feeding on the
detritus of the dozens of boats anchored here since there is nothing visible for
them to eat. Just above them, near transparent little fish swarm around
the anchor chain looking for anything edible that might be stirred from the sand
by its motion. Perhaps the sand is not as barren as it appears. In
any event, I have added to my stock of sand dollars, which are the skeletal
remains of a flattened member of the sea urchin family. I‘ll soon be
rich!
On one exceptional day, I did see a tiny sting ray whose body was scarcely
larger than a man’s hand, but whose long tail already sported a 2 inches long
spine. On returning to the boat, I found a large barracuda lying under the
boat. It appeared to ignore me and I left the water unconcerned; I have
seen many barracuda, including monsters of 2m long, which have never troubled me
despite their fearsome appearance. This one was different. After
showering and stretching out on the trampoline to enjoy a little afternoon sun,
I opened my eyes to see, directly below me, the same barracuda! After a
minute or two of lying motionless, apparently watching me, it suddenly
disappeared. This is a trick which barracuda are good at; they can
accelerate so fast from stationary that it is very difficult to spot what has
happened (an many small fish could have attested, had they survived).
The weather for several days has been quite windy, with force 5-6 winds in
the bay, reaching force 7 at times. This has created quite a choppy sea,
aggravated by some of the power boats which send wakes through the anchorage
large enough to surf on. Fortunately, the wind has now subsided and several days
of calm are in prospect.
|