April 18-19, 2010
We left St. Augustine at 10 a.m. heading out to sea for an overnight trip to Fort Pierce, FL. Charlie and I take shifts of 3 hours at night. We had very light winds so we were motoring.; the sea was almost flat without any waves. It was cloudy and we had some rain starting about 10 p.m. (2200). We had to travel around Cape Canaveral and we could see its lights for miles before we got there. During the afternoon a pretty little yellow finch caught a ride with us. I tried to put out some water for it and some peanut crumbs, tiny slices of apple, and some peanut butter on the water dish. It did not eat or drink anything. This the third time we have had a bird travel with us while out at sea. Usually they rest for an hour and fly on. This little one even went inside the cabin. It also flew outside the cockpit several times as well. It was friendly even hopping on my leg and onto my Kindle while I was reading. After a while we assumed it had flown away, however the next morning we found its body on the floor of our cabin. We sadly and properly buried it at sea. I guess it just did not have the energy reserves to continue its flight.
Winds were forcasted to be 10-15 from the NE, but they never materialized. We motored along with a 1+ knot of current helping us to keep a speed of 6+ knots the whole way. This allowed us to arrive in 25 hours instead of 29hours. We anchored behind Causeway IS and enjoyed the rest of the day, relaxing and having dinner on board.
Awww, what a pretty bird! So sad it didn't make it through the night. It must have known it needed a place to rest and pass peacefully. :(
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