We are now at anchor in Boca Siega Bay by Gulfport, Fl,
after enduring around 51 hours of passage across the Gulf of Mexico. The
weather prediction held for us this time and the bad weather did not come
early. We had to motor most of the way, but that is better than stormy weather
as far as I’m concerned. I’ll take boredom over being really uncomfortable any
day. Once we are over 25 miles from land, we see more turtles than boats (maybe
4 boats the entire two days). There were a few dolphins and lots of birds. This
post is about one in particular.
We had a guest at our B&B. She arrived on my 4-6pm watch
second day out. She was a cute little thing with an orange breast, bright black
eyes and a swallow tail. This gave me a little concern since past arrivals of
birds on our boat signaled a storm coming. As mentioned above, she brought no
foul weather.
Other than being cute, she had some rather annoying habits.
She was flighty and had no regard for
personal space. I tried to be a gracious host, but found myself turning away
and even ducking when she invaded my comfort zone. She introduced herself as Cathy Sparrow. I
called her Chatty Cathy. Did I mention
that she was rather persnickety? She would try out one room after another. “Too windy,” was a common complaint. She seemed
to want a small cozy room. “This might work, but what else do you have?” The
bimini support definitely was too slippery. At one point she sat down on the
GPS at the helm and told me many little stories. It was pleasant to have her
sitting quietly and not flitting about my head, but her stories seemed to have
no plot or even any point. She was
lovely to behold so close, but never disclosed her reasons for dropping in. Then
she spoiled it by trying to give me a kiss. I’m just not that sort of person.
She then resumed her search for the perfect place to spend the night. We have
had some experience with her sort, so I casually placed some barriers on the door
to our personal cabin. She did not take the hint. Reggie had to show her the
door back out. At that point, she flew off in a huff. Is she royalty or something?
However, she didn’t go far and returned.
We closed the door to our inner sanctuary. Why? You may ask, are we unwilling
to admit a guest into our personal living quarters? Please don’t think too
harshly of us. Her personal hygiene habits leave much to be desired and far be
it from her to clean up after herself.
Here she is in her
chosen room. After a “This will work. See
you in the morning. I’m really very
tired. Good night,” she went to sleep.
At some point in the night she soiled her bed and moved across the hall.
That was NOT to her liking and she didn’t stay long. She then settled into a
more spacious room on a cockpit seat and spent the rest of the night. When I
came back on watch at 6 AM, I placed some water next to her bed, assuming she
would be up and singing at sun rise as others of her kind are want to do. She
had not been doing well and we hoped fresh water might have been lacking in her
travels. She, however, stayed snuggly
tucked into her wing. She would occasionally peek around and then snuggle back
down. No worm for this bird. Chatty
Cathy continued to sleep and we are now even more concerned. As we enter the
harbor, she breaths her last breathe. We respectfully burry her at sea. I am
sorry for my intolerance. RIP on this Good Friday. B
R. We did a little
sailing early and late in the trip and it was nice. The best sailing was the day before we headed
out. We were crossing Chocktawhatchee Bay
and West Bay.
For my sailing friends, we were on a beam reach under genoa
only and saw 7.5 knots several times before finding a sheltered spot to anchor.
For my non-sailing friends, it was rollicking fast fun!
Great story.
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