Signs of Life

Day 5: Offshore to Panama

Mel can understand why some sailors, especially single-handed sailors, can get spooked crossing oceans. For days now, the only sign on the ocean that other living creatures existed on this planet was the rare sighting of a tanker in the distance. That’s right. No birds, no fish, no dolphins. And for all we know, that tanker is manned by zombies. With the great visibility we’ve had, Mel has found it easy to further freak herself out by doing a lap around the boat and noting that the horizon is the same in all directions: a harsh dividing line between shades of blue, and that’s it. It is just all so horizontal. Maybe that’s why the offshore horizon is creepy: most life, and signs of life, is at least somewhat vertical. 

Mel is writing all of this to justify why, after Greg announced, “There’s a lot of sargassum out there today,” she ran out on deck and began furiously snapping pictures and video. Sargassum doesn’t have much of a vertical component, but it’s a start!

Once you research sargassum, you realize that sargassum bears similarities to a few sailors you may know. Namely, everything is right in the world when sargassum is out on the open ocean, but once it gets close to land, everything turns to shit. Literally. The rotting sargassum on beaches releases hydrogen sulfide gas and ammonia, two chemicals typically confined to outhouses and Midwestern farm plots in the Spring. This brown macroalgae version of seaweed is also stuffed with arsenic, and the bad kind, which means that Mel and her sargassum patch are unlikely to become best sea buddies. It is interesting to see humanity scramble to come up with a use for the stuff, since it is increasing in biomass and making a bid to be one of the causes of the apocalypse.

Well, that got dark quickly. Mel clearly needs to interact with living things to maintain her mood. She suspects paranoia about sargassum is one of the early signs of boat fever. Fortunately, she likely will avoid this version of boat fever when she crosses the Pacific. Because by then she would have learned to fish, so instead of waiting for a sign of life to float or fly by, she can actively seek out a living thing. And then kill it.

Dinner last night: Instant Pot chicken teriyaki, since Mel remembered to defrost the chicken.

Entertainment: Still learning how to murder. Also, Spanish.