Week 29: I'm on a Boat, Phosphorescences, and Whale Bone Jenga (October 17-23)

I sailed with 3 friends (LC, TF, and TR) for a weekend to an island about 15 miles away called Mann. It started out great, the sail up was full of great conversation and a beautiful sunset. Just as we reached the pass to go ocean side, I started upchucking. My poor stomach got the best of me and I ended up curled up in a ball with a wet washcloth on my neck for a good chunk of the night. As I my head was hanging over the side of the boat, I was privied the the amazing sight of green phosphorescence. It is a little strange to think that my stomach contents hitting the water were causing this amazing sight, but I was just entranced by the green glow that occurred on the surface of the water. I think I could watch the glow for hours and not get bored of it. This was followed up with a night of sleeping on a rocking boat (I got smart by bed time and pumped myself full of dramamine). The night started on deck with me sleeping in 15-20 minute spurts and watching the movement of the boat in relation to the island and realizing that the winds were starting to shift. Sometime in the night it started raining and we all ended up in the cabin, where I continued to sleep in short spurts as the sound of the anchor pulling was amplified. About 4:30 am we all awoke abruptly to the anchor line be let out at a rapid pace. The line shortening the anchor chain had snapped, resulting in the 300 feet of chain attaching us to the anchor being let out in a short amount of time. No longer in the shadow of the island the boat was bobbing around and the winds were moving us quite a bit. We were able to get the chain pulled in with me holding lights, TF motoring the boat in, TR pulling the chain in little by little and LC sleeping her butt off down below. This was all compounded by the heavy rain going on and the air going from warm to cold. Shortly after day break we awoke to the boat on coral because the winds had shifted even more. We reanchored the boat and rewarded ourselves yummy breakfast burritos. It was decided at breakfast to move to the other side of the island to be in the shadow of the wind. All the while it is still raining and raining and raining (all said there were 5 inches of rain this day).

Once on the other side, we ventured onto the island to play a little game of Whale Bone Jenga. About a year ago a sperm whale was beached and all that is left is a pile of bones and mushy mass of blubber (it felt DISGUSTING!). Whale Bone Jenga consists of stacking the vertebrae one at a time a making a tower until it falls. The last person to touch a bone before it tumbles over loses.

LC, myself and TF with our Whale Bone Jenga Tower.

We ended up calling the trip a day early because of the crummy weather and crazy winds. The sail back was beautiful and the sunset had an amazing orange glow that I couldn't take my eyes off of. Not the ideal situation for my first over night sail, but most definitely one that I will never forget!