sailing

Today we spent the day on a sailboat. Aside from Jersey's tall ship the A.J. Meerwald back in April, this was my first day-charter sail. A 39' sloop-rigged Pearson named Spree, home to Michigan-born Captain Bob. We were out from 9 a.m. til about 3 p.m. I spent the couple hours or so with my eyes closed, with either seasickness or indigestion, praying that it wouldn't get worse. Fortunately it passed.

On the way we sailed by this island. It's called Little St. James, entirely owned by a billionaire philanthropist currently jailed in West Palm Beach for sex with underage girls.

We moored at Lovango Cay to snorkel. Although it was cloudy for most of the day, the sun shone through enough to get some good underwater views. Here's another photo courtesy of Pete, this one with two blue tangs and a school of French grunts:


I am building a repertoire of underwater life. So far I have seen and identified (using Pete's marine life picture book):

brain coral, southern sting ray, spiny sea urchin, trumpetfish, blue tang, French grunts, foureye butterfly fish, bearded fireworm, and yellowtail damselfish (my favorite so far!)... and the list keeps growing.

Tomorrow Ian and I start Day 1 of diving for our Open Water certification, where we'll get to see even more fish.