Unwanted Visitor on Sailboat

[Galley_Slave]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080806/D92CJ4B00.html

I hope you are all enjoying your sailing season. Neal (Capt Nero) and I have been busy and haven't posted for a while, but I was on the web today and saw this article.
*I* have trouble climbing the swim ladder. I'm impressed with this critter's abilities.

[Emerald]

and I thought I had problems with ducks and a blue heron who hangs on our pier :egrin:

[steven]

was in the Galapagos a couple of years ago. Seals (or are they sea lions) hang out on almost all the boats that are on moorings. If the boat has a broad deck - like the stern deck of a fishing boat - two or three lounge there. Remarkable watching them jump aboard (without a ladder). They do a sort of flop back into the water if approached.

--Steve

[dwigle]

We had a sea lion hop in our inflatable then look as though he was going to continue to our boat. He wasn't fazed by noise, including the air horn. After I let the painter out he rolled around in the dink for a while before going back in the water. This occurred in Drake's Bay (Northern California) and we had just watched what appeared to be a marine mammal rescue group release some sea lions into the bay, and we think it could have been one of them.

Don Wigle
Wiggle Room
E38 #8


4296

[Captron]

This past winter in the Bahamas, a cruiser put out a call for help on the morning cruiser net. It seems that a large black and gold snake had come aboard during the night and found it's way onto a shelf in his V-berth not but a few inches from where he was sleeping.

There was an open port next to the shelf and the snake just crawled in. He got all kinds of suggestions for dealing with it. He couldn't identify the snake and so didn't know if it was poisionous or not.

One fellow offered the loan of a 12 gauge. Declined that one. Another suggested a bottle of rum. Drink the rum and use the empty bottle to club it to death. Sounds like video camera material, that one.

He finally settled on rigging a noose using fishing line at the end of a fishing rod. That worked ok except they tried to fish it through the open port. They snagged the serpent alright but then when they extracted it, the critter wrapped itself on a shroud and refused to let go.

It was subsequently identified as a Bahamian Boa, a rather docile and harmless variety.

This incident prompted other cruisers to tell their snake stories. Apparently the buggers can climb boarding ladders anchor rodes and dinghy painters.

Yikes.:eek:

[Sean Engle]

We had a sea lion hop in our inflatable...we had just watched what appeared to be a marine mammal rescue group release some sea lions into the bay, and we think it could have been one of them.


There are lots of white sharks around the Farallon Islands and up towards Drakes Bay, no?

Perhaps he was just getting out of the water to avoid being lunch or something...they have been known to use human watercraft as cover to avoid being snacked upon...

//sse