Dolphin Brain

Pacific Crossing Day 21. Hand steering Day 7. Less than 200 nm away from Henderson Island.

Mel heard dolphins sleep by turning off half their brain at a time so the other half can watch for predators. After a week of fractured sleep from hand-steering shifts, she thinks this has happened to her.

Science has figured out one reason why we sleep. It turns out there is a whole sewer system in the brain called the glymphatic system. At night, fluid leaks from our blood vessels and fills up the spaces around them, creating tubular rivers, washing out all the brain guck of the day, eventually draining into the lymph node trash collectors in our neck.

This means that, after days of an erratic watch schedule, extra trash is floating in Mel’s brain river. And so she figures her brain has put half itself to sleep in an attempt to clean house.

Unfortunately, the half that is asleep seems to be the hand-steering half. The heading readout is hypnotic – 205 206 208 214 215 222 – turn the wheel! 203 204 203 205…

The other half of Mel’s brain is busy bubbling up weird thoughts and memories. Such as this memory : the video she made of an Elvis song starring her kids. And this thought: She really hopes that she doesn’t give a tuna botulism from the toxic carrots she disposed of today. Are there vegan tunas?

Today’s earworm: Boom Boom, Cat Empire. Mel feels like a zombie and so is rocking out the her zombie playlist.

Song to perk you up when energy flags while hand steering: Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani.

“This Sh$t is bananas – B-A-N-A-N-A-S!”

So true, Gwen. So true.