The Wild Life!

Today I’ll blog about something else… The wild life.

Last night about 2am I woke with a fright because of the sounds of a little man drilling a hole in my hull then the sounds of water pouring in. glub glub glub. I got up, peed and went back to bed.

No this isn’t the result of my wild life, but rather something else; the wild life in the marina. In the quite tranquil water lurk many animals ready to wake one from their slumber or prevent it all together. Birds, seals and shrimp all make sound that make a paranoid skipper worry. Sea gull, heron, and terns catch muscles and fish and dine alfresco on deck. They make a sound of someone on deck scratching their way looking for a way to break in. Seals bang into the keel (the fin that sticks five and a half feet below the water) and make a “Puffff” sound as they blow out air at the surface. But the most constant sound is the snap crackle pop of the snapping shrimp. They sound as if they are on the hull trying to cut and pinch their way in. This link can give you an idea of what I am talking about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONQlTMUYCW4

In the fall an osprey comes back for the winter and stands watch atop the mast 3 boats down. This carnivore eats well… It expels a lot of waste as well. He leaves a mess on deck. A few times I’ve heard the thump of its BM and laid there hours waiting for the other shoe to drop. I enjoy the raptors return, I’m so happy he prefers somebody else’s mast!

In the case last night the unmistakable sound was the wild life of my fellow boater 4 slips down coming home from the bar. His electric powered dingy augering its way through the water, his wake gently slapping my hull making a glub glub glub. Ones imagination can be deceiving aboard Something Else!