Delivery, Part 5: Open Seas, Animals, Strafing Runs

With Bermuda behind us, we set out on the second leg to Sag Harbor. We got into a hell of a squall shortly out, with sustained winds over 30 knots. At its peak, for an hour or so, we had winds at 40 knots, gust to 49, and seas up to 20 feet. Oddly enough, I was never scared. Nor was I able to get pictures.

I learned also that foul-weather gear is only semi-waterproof; it does not let the water back out. Here is my damp grumpy face the day after:



We saw all sorts of ocean life on this leg: lots of porpoises and Atlantic spotted dolphin; bluebottle jellyfish galore; a 12' bull shark that cruised by about 3' from the boat. The problem with photographing random encounters is that animals, generally, are very damn fast.

Supersonic jets, on the other hand, are not. This guy buzzed us about a day out of Long Island, a Navy F-18. He did a slow pass, rolled and gave us a wing-waggle, then pulled up almost into a stall--a Pugachev Cobra, I think--then dropped his nose, powered away...we heard him go supersonic shortly after that. There's a dot in the pictures that's the jet, I assure you:





To be continued!