Captain's Log Page 4

Tideline Yacht Sales
17 Lockwood Drive
Charleston, SC 29401

PHONE: 843.813.3711
FAX: 866.467.8840
Email: glen@tidelineyachtsales.com

      We went ashore one evening and were taken to the beach in front of the boat. We watched turtles laying eggs, which is something most people don't get to experience. The females are the only ones that come ashore, and they dig the hole with the back legs. Once they are satisfied, they position themselves over the hole, and lay a few hundred eggs at a time. The eggs are rubbery and the shells look soft. While they are doing this they go into a catatonic state, and do not get disturbed by light or movement. Once they have completed this monumental task, they cover the eggs and return to the sea. They do this on numerous occasions for a few weeks, and then depart the area. We saw a few turtles while we were sailing, and it makes one wonder where they are headed. They have been known to go halfway round the world, and like salmon, they return to their place of birth.

Because of its location, Ascension Island was of vital strategic interest to the British. They used it as a stopping point, and to pick up supplies. They built a series of pools that fed into each other, and were used as holding pens for turtles. A ship calling into Ascension could keep the turtle alive for weeks, and would then have a highly nutritious source of meat.

The day we decided to depart, we had difficulty lifting the stern anchor. After wrestling with it for about half an hour, the line came up, with a frayed end, and no anchor. Fortunately there was a diver who was willing to come out and dive. Somehow I managed to remember where we had dropped the anchor, and he found it relatively quickly. He told us that it had wrapped itself around an anchor that was about 200 years old! I guess I would not have been the first to lose an anchor there.

We left the following day, headed for Brazil. We arrived in Fortaleza, the fourth largest city in Brazil. Not being familiar with the entry, we decided to come in during the day. We watched the sun go down on the mainland, and tacked up and down all night long. The following morning the wisdom of our decision was brought home to us when we crept past the wreck of a freighter. continue to page 5 >>