I am writing from the screen porch about to walk down to GANNET to spend the night. I want to post this here where I have good Internet.
Yesterday I was sitting on a Sportaseat on the floor when I noticed an anole on the deck, his red neck pouch inflated. This is done to intimidate male rivals or to attract females.
I waited a few moments and then stood and found two anoles entwined. They were not fighting. The male greener and smaller than his female partner.
The photo is the best I could make with my iPhone shot from within the condo. I did not want to move closer and disturb their moment.
Afterward a bright green anole remained on our deck most of the afternoon.
I saw him twice dart forward, catch something, and chew satisfactorily.
I do not know if it was the same small lizard.
If it was, perhaps he has fond memories and hopes of repetition. I wish him fulfillment.
A few days ago I saw a brown anole walking along the gutter drain. I don’t know why we find some creatures attractive—koalas and baby pandas, and others abhorrent—cockroaches; but I find green anoles charming and brown not.
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I thank James and Markus for clarifying some aspects of the Polish sailor’s voyage.
He did not self fund the voyage. He had sponsorship. More than twenty.
As I expected his boat was not the smallest to circumnavigate. An Australian, Serge Testa, circumnavigated in an 11’10’/3.61 meter boat in the late 1980s.
The Polish boat is probably the smallest to have circumnavigated nonstop, but only by a few inches/centimeters.
Still it was a difficult and impressive voyage, although really slow. 270 days was less than 100 miles a day. I pretty much did that in CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE. I’ll leave it at that.
It is quite possible that the Polish sailor never claimed to have been self-funded or the smallest boat to circumnavigate. Journalist have been known to get facts wrong.
You can read on the Internet that I am the first American to have sailed around the world alone. That is, of course, not true and a claim I have never made. I was the first American to have sailed around Cape Horn alone. Apparently some journalists can’t tell the difference.
You can also read on the Internet that I am the greatest sailor who has ever lived. While I appreciate the compliment, that, too, is a claim I have never made and never will. That there has never been one greater, well, that might be true.
Back to Skull Creek and GANNET.
