Another beautiful sunrise
Look! We can see the states!
Portuguese Man-O-War
National Geographic's definition
Anyone unfamiliar with the biology of the venomous Portuguese man-of-war would likely mistake it for a jellyfish. Not only is it not a jellyfish, it's not even an "it," but a "they." The Portuguese man-of-war is a siphonophore, an animal made up of a colony of organisms working together.
The man-of-war comprises four separate polyps. It gets its name from the uppermost polyp, a gas-filled bladder, or pneumatophore, which sits above the water and somewhat resembles an old warship at full sail. Man-of-wars are also known as bluebottles for the purple-blue color of their pneumatophores.
The tentacles are the man-of-war's second organism. These long, thin tendrils can extend 165 feet (50 meters) in length below the surface, although 30 feet (10 meters) is more the average. They are covered in venom-filled nematocysts used to paralyze and kill fish and other small creatures. For humans, a man-of-war sting is excruciatingly painful, but rarely deadly. But beware—even dead man-of-wars washed up on shore can deliver a sting.
Muscles in the tentacles draw prey up to a polyp containing the gastrozooids or digestive organisms. A fourth polyp contains the reproductive organisms.
Man-of-wars are found, sometimes in groups of 1,000 or more, floating in warm waters throughout the world's oceans. They have no independent means of propulsion and either drift on the currents or catch the wind with their pneumatophores. To avoid threats on the surface, they can deflate their air bags and briefly submerge.
Today we had this Coast Guard Cutter hail us on channel 16....they asked us
all the usual questions, where are you coming from, where are you going,
what is your registration nr, etc. They told us to continue on our present
course and to maintain the speed we were going....they said they would be
escorting us until we were cleared through the system....15 minutes later
we were cleared to continue on....they asked if there was anything else they could
do for us such as safety check/gear...Bob said "no, the only thing we are
needing is chocolate right now"...the guy said "sorry we don't have any either..."
That's my Captain!
Coming into Lake Worth, FL
Trimaran on the rocks!
More of Lake Worth
Police boat in a hurry!
State Park here in Lake Worth
One of Bob's friends Ed and his wife Mena are
volunteering here for the next 6 months....we will be
spending happy hours over there I'm sure....I may even
devote some of my time just to get off the boat while
Bob is working on the engine....the bad words that come
out of his mouth....shew!
Old boat. Can you see the dinghy hanging off the side?
Our anchorage....this boat sunk and now they are bringing
it back up
Our sunset!
Crossing back over to the States wasn't too bad today. It wasn't as good as the day before but it wasn't a bad trip either. We left at 0400 and got back to the States around 3. Pretty good time actually. We did an average of 8 knots all day, pretty good considering there was no wind again which meant no sails. There was also NO fish caught again!!
Once we got into Lake Worth we called Customs and they told us we had to come in and do a face-to-face check in within 24 hours so I guess that's what we will be doing tomorrow!
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