Meet the Auto Pilot!

The autopilot is your friend. You could refer to him as your co-pilot, since he does a lot of the work (a bit like cruise control in your car) and is with you all through your watch. He never leaves to go to the bathroom. Never needs a cup of coffee, or a cup of noodles, no matter how cold it gets between 1:00-3:00AM. Those are his strong points. Most auto pilots are nameless, because, well, they just are. Our copilot, however, has been given a name. I'd like you to meet Dion. You know... as in, "cause I'm a wanderer, yeah, a wanderer- I roam around and 'round and 'round...".

Dion has taken on a personality of his own. One of perpetual unpredictability. We can set him on a course designed to get us to our destination in the safest and most direct fashion, and for a while, he cooperates, steers the boat, and basically does our work for us. This affords us the opportunity to sit back with a foolish grin, relax, and in daylight at least, to enjoy the scenery, look for wildlife, and generally try to make the best of 2 hours of piercing cold, moist air. We have learned however, to not take his abilities for granted and to not take our eyes off the compass. For just as we've been lulled into a state of tranquility and least expect it, Dion, with no warning whatsoever and with cunning stealth, will take an unscheduled break, leaving us veering wildly off course.

Sometimes the veering, (Hey, we could have called him Vera!) is noticeable enough to be felt. And then it's a simple matter of putting us back on course. More often than not though, the first sign that he is on break is that perhaps the land which we have been comfortably able to see to the east, is no longer there. At night the tip off might be that the lights from a fishing vessel seen off the starboard bow for quite some time now, have inexplicably disappeared, only to be discovered somewhere off the stern. Either way, Dion needs a helping hand, which we are only too willing to give. Anything to keep him happy.

On a wildlife note, yesterday during my 7:30-9:30 AM watch, I finally spotted whales off to the west. After about 3 spouts, one of them dove, and I could clearly see his tail. But there was more to come! Just after I turned my watch over to Sandy at 9:30 AM, we were visited by a pod of dolphins leaping alongside the boat, and playing in the wake. Almost immediately afterward, two humpback whales crossed our path, diving right in front of the boat, so that I thought we were going to run over the second one. In fact, his tailed cleared the bow with what appeared to be less than a foot. Sadly, in all the excitement, no one got a picture! Ah, well. There will be others.

We are currently in Bodega Bay, about eight hours north of San Francisco. Another bird sanctuary. Yesterday on the way in, we saw beautiful white pelicans. We are planning to stay here a couple days to rest, and wait for parts that Chris needs to make a repair to the prop shaft. We had some leakage, in the prop shaft compartment, and discovered that two screws had backed out. We are having replacements, which will arrive tomorrow, sent from the company. Our friends Dick and Carol, who we sort of buddy-sailed with from Eureka, are also here and are having an autopilot installed. Hmmm. I wonder if I should introduce them to Dion.

Patty