Freda the duck writes: Hopefully
Todd and Ellen won't notice me up in the
middle of the night playing with their
computer. If only my beak didn't
make so much noise on the keyboard.
I am their pet duck that they rescued
in Oregon. I was on the way to the
dumpster when Ellen took a liking to
me and saved me. My old owner thought
I was just a duck decoy, but I
would like to believe I am a little more
than that. Todd and Ellen have
been telling you about their trip, but
I thought you might want a ducks
view of how things are going down here.
Considering that I could be in a
landfill in Oregon, things are quite well
although recently I have had
some close calls. Coming down the
coast I spent most of the time in the
lazerette. It was pretty dark, but
Todd and Ellen must have thought it
was safer for me to be in there.
I was out of the way so I didn't get
stepped on, but the foam of the life jackets
was not very tasty.
In Mazatlan they let me out to play in
the water. What a fun place. Many
fish came over to say hi and I got to
have some real food finally. There
is nothing better than the algae that
grows on the side of a dock in this
warm water. Mazatlan was also the
place where I met a romantic interest.
The name was Fanny, and I was in love
at first sight. Fanny is a pink
flamingo that goes everywhere with the
nice folks aboard the boat
"Windward Luv". We first met during
a party where all the boaters got in
their dingy's and went to the lagoon to
watch the sun go down. It was
great fun. I saw Fanny as much as
I could before "Windward Luv" left for
points south. Fanny is really a
tough bird, just before they left, Don
turned the dingy upside down and mooshed
Fanny for 30 minutes while he
cleaned the bottom of the dingy.
You see Fanny is very attached to the
front of their dingy and didn't move out
of the way in time. Everything
worked out OK in the end.
When Todd and Ellen left Mazatlan I got
back into the lazarette. Again
they left me in there for quite some time.
I thought I could hear that we
were in Barra de Navidad, when all of
a sudden the let me out to go play
behind Mandolin again. Apparently
"Windward Luv" was close by and they
asked how I was doing. They must
have forgotten about me. Thanks guys.
The lagoon at Barra de Navidad was great
though. I got to meet all types
of new birds I had never seen before.
Unfortunately "Windward Luv" left
before I was able to see Fanny again,
but I hear from Ellen that we may
see them in Zijatenaho soon.
Some nice algae was growing on the bottom
of "Mandolin" so I was able to
munch on that until we started our next
passage. This time I was able to
sit in the cockpit while they traveled
to Las Hadas in Manzanillo. It was
a bit scary since I am not used to all
the action of sailing. Soon a day
came that I will never forget. We
were anchored in a small bay near a big
hotel. Lots of jet ski's and pangas
kept zooming by. The wind picked up
and I was swept away from "Mandolin" as
my leash had come undone. I was
just sure I would end up on the beach
or get run over. I called to Ellen
and she must have heard me at the last
moment because she looked up from
her book and saw me drifting helplessly
away. Immediately they started a
rescue. Todd jumped into their dingy
and rowed out to save me. A close
one indeed.
A few days later I had another close call.
They were back at Las Hadas
anchored. Recently they have been
using a trip line on their anchor.
This line has a small bouy on the end
of the anchor and should their
anchor get snagged on something they can
pull the trip line and retrieve
it. The problem comes when the wind
shifts and they drift over the trip
line. The first day it wrapped around
their rudder. I tried to free it,
but it was stuck tightly. Todd noticed
it and dove in to unwrap it. Two
days later as the boat repositioned itself
due to the changing wind, I got
tangled in the trip line. Before
I knew it I was being sucked underwater.
I took a big breath and the line finally
went taught holding me three feet
under the surface. Fortunately I
am pretty resilient because it took them
a while to notice that their boat was
crossways to the wind before they
started investigating. Todd spotted
me with his flashlight and saw my
predicament. With Ellen's help they
untied my leash from the stern and I
promptly swam to the surface with the
bouy I had been tangled in. Now the
only problem was that I might not make
it back to the boat. Again Todd
rowed the dingy out to save me.
Now at night they pick me up and put me
on the boat.
Today I followed them in the dingy to the
resort while they went shopping.
I was surprised to see that there were
no other pets at the dingy dock to
converse with, so I kept myself amused
by watching all the people roast
themselves at the pool. On the way
back to Mandolin I was almost attacked
by a Blue Footed Booby. Those birds
are not very smart and must not have
noticed I was a pet. Fortunately
he swerved away at the last second.
Again tonight I was pulled aboard "Mandolin"
as the sun went down. After
they went to sleep I was able to figure
out how to turn on the computer.
I would write more, but their battery
is running low and I don't know how
to charge it. Besides my neck and
beak is tired. They sure didn't design
these keyboards ergonomically correct
for a duck. I'll save this file in
the same place they put their trip logs
and maybe they won't notice it
when it gets sent out. I'll try
to write more later. --Freda the duck
Todd and Ellen Mandeville
S/V "Mandolin" - Cal 34
svmandolin@hotmail.com
www.aljian.com/mandolin
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