Crossing the Atlantic it was common to find dead flying fish on the deck, even in the cockpit.  I’d see these fish spend a fair amount of time airborne skimming across the water so it was not a great surprise to see some of them end up on the deck.  But I don’t know what’s up with all these squid that started showing up on the deck in the Pacific.  They can’t fly so I assume they get tossed on deck by the waves that routinely hit the hull of Phywave and break over the deck.  Most are less than 6 or 8 inches long so don’t weigh very much and water could easily toss them around. However, a few days ago a really big one landed on deck, about 18” long with tentacles, weighing over a pound.  Somehow it got wedged under the headsail halyards. I tossed it overboard but now I’m hoping for a short, intense rain squall to wash the bloody mess off my deck. And as of a few days ago the dead flying fish are also back.

I’ll pass 90 degrees west longitude today, due south of the Galapagos Islands 840 miles to the north, a very interesting place I visited for a week back in 2007. From my current position there remains about 2950 nm to Nuku-Hiva in the Marquesas Islands (about 24 days averaging 5 knots). My boat trip log says I’ve already sailed 2350 nm from Puerto Montt so this will be a 5300 nm passage when I arrive there, more than twice as long as the longest passage I made in the Atlantic.

I’ve just added a new page entitled “Sailing Videos” under the Sailing section of my website www.phywave.com.  These are short, unedited video clips posted on my YouTube channel that better convey the sailing experience than still photos can.