Half Way There!

June 1, 2007

We’re officially past the half way point and today we passed over a volcano whose rim is supposedly 25 m below the surface. We were hoping to see some varied wildlife as we passed over the volcano, and we were expecting to come across some long lines as well. We did spot some buoys, but they were encrusted with barnacles and had no lines attached to them. Yesterday we spotted a buoy at sunset, Alex spotted one this afternoon and then I did as well. It is exciting coming across the buoys so that we can pull in the long line and save the lives of hundreds of animals, but unfortunately the buoys we found today had broken free from their original lines long ago and we didn’t have the chance to pull anything in. The weather should be fairly decent from here on out, so if we do come across a long line we should have no problems pulling it in. It would be so frustrating to come across a line in bad weather and not be able to stop the needless death and destruction that’s caused by irresponsible fishermen.

Pedro and I were lucky enough 2 days in a row this last week to see a moonlit rainbow during our midnight to 4 am watch. The moon has been beautifully full and bright and to our stern. With a little bit of rain ahead of us, we were able to see a faint glowing rainbow. The colors weren’t really well defined, but it was definitely there. We woke up some of the crew and made sure the engineers were able to see it. Mainly we just wanted to make sure that we weren’t seeing things.

We’ve been going through some biggish swells, and while I haven’t been sick in the slightest, the constant rolling of the ship has made sleeping difficult. I’ve resorted to stuffing pillows on both sides of me once I get into bed. The result is that I have to decide what position I want to sleep in straight away and can’t change without a bit of effort, but with the pillows I don’t slide back and forth across my bed all night. The Farley is known for the way she moves with a graceful roll, and I’m told that I will miss it when I leave.

Another interesting part of ship life I’ve recently been introduced to is our laundering facilities. Most of our washing is done in buckets by hand, but I had a few pairs of filthy jeans that needed more than just scrubbing. After a few well placed knots, my jeans were at the end of a line sailing overboard for a proper washing. After a few hours bobbing behind the ship they were ready to be pulled in and dried out. It’s a lovely way to do laundry if you ask me!

Only a few more days to Pitcairn, and then a few more weeks to the Galapagos after that. The latest word is that we’ll be spending at least a week in the Galapagos, which I think would be great as there are so many people that I need to meet and so many things I want to see there. However there really is no knowing where we’ll be or how long we’ll be there with Sea Shepherd. It’s been another beautiful day at sea and the full moon is golden and rising over the horizon. I’m going to tuck into the book I’m reading now (story of Kon Tiki- Trans-Pacific Norweigan raft expedition) and then take a quick nap before my watch at midnight.