Wild Guests On Board?

[Aquaria]

Wintertime, not much to do - good time to look at sailing pics.

And there are some with animals on board. Wild animals visiting.

I heard about monkeys entering off Borneo (not sure if this story developed after several beers at the sailing clubs bar)...

but I saw pics of boobies peacefully sitting on deck (what was so far okay) until they started to eat up everything that looked like plastic or rubber.

Here are our wild guests (very small compared to monkeys and boobies though)

A Black Redstart Â* (Phoeicurus ochrurus)Â* Â* arriving just shortly after sunrise right in the middle of the Kattegat between Denmark and Sweden



starting to enter the boat



sitting on the saloon brass lamp for hours, even pooping on it (since then the brass is very shiny). Hours later it came back out, flying a couple loops around the boat, sat down on the deck and finally left hours later close to the swedish coast.

Or this juvenile robin (Erithacus Rubecula) visiting years ago on a dark calm October night on the North Sea

Â*

it also entered, hopped around my table, but not at all interested inÂ*bread.



It left with the first morning light.

And still on another very stormy autumn day on the North Sea (Outer Silver Pit) this doestic dove (deriv Columbia Livia) that literally fell into the cockpit...



... sat there all night and found out that the helmsmen's boots are even warmer to sit on.

It got up the next morning...



and then finally left on a position not too far away from Den Helder (NED)

What were your temporary guests?

Uwe

Sy Aquaria

[mico]

Our last guest dropped by in the middle of the night on passage.

A massive bang with the backstay shuddering and the binnimi covered in feathers.

Then the entire stern started vibrating.

Booby and Airex Wind Generator are not good passage companions

It's taken us 3 months to source replacement blades and we're still fishing feathers out of the cockpit

Fair winds

[Aquaria]

Originally Posted by mico

...

Booby and Airex Wind Generator are not good passage companions

It's taken us 3 months to source replacement blades and we're still fishing feathers out of the cockpit

Fair winds

Oh yes, birds and wind generators!

We had to discourage another wild guest (an ordinary Herring Gull, Larus argentatus) from landing on our wind generator in daytime (!) while we were tied up to a mooring in the harbour of Alderney (UK Channel Islands). Â*A fresh breeze was going and the generator was milling hard.

We have an old Rutland 910 with the brick-like gear box which makes a perfect landing platform for birds. Â*Eventually the gull gave up, so we did not have to collect minced gull & feathers from the dinghi tied up astern.

This happened in 1993. We still have this wind gen but ever since this stupid gull no other bird tried to land on it and no other bird flew into it by accident.

Uwe

SY Aquaria

[pbmaise]

Fall 2011 - Phuket Thailand - Phuket River between Ko Phuket and Ko Sire Asia Marina

So I"m looking closely at it..and think..geeze someone has taken their dog for a walk on my boat and left the doo doo behind.

I mean I can play basketball on the deck my boat is so big, however, this is too much. I stare over at the dive boats preparing for the season. I'm rafted along side 3 of them and have outer position. In front is a raft of 5 boats with the Kingfisher "super yacht" pier side. Yeah that has to be it...there are cats on that boat. I looked at them sideways yesterday.

No....looking down again. That is dog doo doo.

Well so I thought.

It was monkey.

I confirmed that after spying one on another boat.

Phil Maise

Hot Buoys Trimaran

[Aquaria]

ah, so the monkey story I heard might have some real background!

And that reminds me of another group of animals we do not really like to have on board: flying fish!

They fly fast and they hit hard if they hit, scaring the man on watch to death. They smell and they make a mess on deck or in the cockpit during their last unsuccessfull struggle to find the way back into the sea.

Many times during pitch dark nights we tried to catch them to get them back out of the boat as quick as possible.Â*

I heard that some like to eat them? Â* Â*

Uwe

SY Aquaria

[Nausikaa]

Originally Posted by Aquaria

I heard that some like to eat them? Â* Â*

SY Aquaria

Absolutely Uwe. They are good eating.

When I was a cadet I used to have to get up rather early to collect them off the deck before the Chinese crew got there first. Fried, they make a great breakfast.

Aye // Stephen

[Aquaria]

... guess, we must try them the next time we are out there where the fish flyÂ*Â*. Â*Who has some recipies?

Uwe

SY Aquaria

[MMNETSEA]

Originally Posted by Aquaria

... guess, we must try them the next time we are out there where the fish flyÂ*Â*. Â*Who has some recipies?

Uwe

SY Aquaria

I have sprinkled them with some salt then grilled both sides quickly and enjoyed with fresh tomatoes sprinkled with some sharp white wine.

[Aquaria]

...preparing them seems easier than I thought - will try asap - unfortunately there is no flying fish in the North Sea...

Thanks!

Uwe

SY Aquaria

[Nausikaa]

Not now Uwe but maybe soon?

We are already seeing anchovies moving into the North Sea with catches steadily increasing. Global warming? May well be.

Aye // Stephen