Close encounter of the wildest kind

Motorsailing merrily along, out of the blue, I noticed the familiar
shape of a turtle head peeping at us. I immediatly alerted the boys and
turned the boat around. In a flash they had their cameras ready and all
three diving, falling, jumping overboard to experience swimming with
this gentle giant. Ecstatically Steven and Eduard were screaming and and
laughing as they circled the turtle who showed no signs of distress at
all with these af madmen all around him. Nick was a bit more respectful
and reserved, probably seeing at the sacred experience it really is.
They swam a bit closer and touched his back that also hosted some
barnacles. I kept on cirlcling around them, hove to drift off and then
sail around again. They took a lot of photos and videos and was truly
blessed by this unexpected visitor, wild and free, resonating with that
same part inside of us all.

Quite a few fishing vessels around us at night and yesterday we
carefully went over a string of bouys that holds a net suspended in the
water. Fortunately the nets were low enough for us to pass over without
getting our props and rudders snagged in their contraption. This often
happens which is why we carry a hacksaw on board. Should we get snagged
we normally would tie a line to both sides of the cord that suspends the
net and cut through the part the part that is snagging us. That way we
can cut loose without to much damage to the nets. I sometimes think of
just dropping the nets but know it will even cause more damage to
wildlife if it just floats around. There are a lot of things that bother
me about fishing like this that makes me sad and angry at the same time,
especially the longliners that hunts sharks, cuts their fins off and
throw them still alive back into the ocean. And there is no one to
protect the sharks, no law out here. What can one do, greed and
stupidity or shortsightedness goes hand in hand. Being a sailor I have
an array of strong words that comes to mind but this is not the time nor
the place to show that side of me. All I can hope and pray for is that
all of us that shares this planet will become aware of the sacedness of
all around us. Harvest we must, but indiscriminate raping of resources
we are only wiping ourselves out. We can't safe the planet, the planet
and it's inhabitants will suffer, but to think we can safe the planet is
preposterous. Who do we think we are. We will wipe ourselves out in the
end and the planet will keep on revolving as it has since it became
planet earth. Since we got the idea that God gave us the right to rule
over the planet things have gone badly wrong. I am not a "green" person,
and I do respect the "green" people immensily. I think if we find our
true purpose on the planet the green issues will follow naturally.
Anyways, sooner than we think, these things will be upon us.

Our position at 10am today is 02*25'S/095*52'W. We are still moving in a
southwesterly direction to get into the trade winds and the south
equatorial current quicker. This morning there are a lot of clouds and
nice and cool, but already the temperature is soaring as it gets later
and closer to midday.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Captain Paul