The key defining characteristic of the trade wind belt is, probably obviously, the wind more- or-less steady easterly wind. But another feature is the presence of flying fish.
The bright afternoon sun shows schools of flying ejecting from the ocean surface, violently flapping their flippers and tail in their best imitation of hummingbirds as the skim over the water surface for up to 20 or 30 yards. Given the amount of energy required, it’s hard to imagine the fish doing this just for fun, but we can only imagine what they are trying to escape below the ocean’s surface.
It’s uncommon for a flying fish to land onboard during the day. But at night there is a fairly regular thump as a fish is unlucky enough to time its descent onto Oso’s deck instead of back into the briny deep. Perhaps the flying fish’s night vision has room for improvement.
The morning deck walk finds 8 flying fish, along with 2 small squid, scattered around the side decks. That doesn’t include the unluckiest of all who, in a heroic display of aeronautics, must have set a world record for vertical leap before bypassing the side decks completely and surprising the crew by landing directly in the cockpit.
All’s well aboard.
Day Nine
10 17.1S 95 24.2W
199nm
