4 FEBRUARY, 2019 - M/V So...fea DECK LOG - OTTER ALERT!

Overnight temperatures... last night was 32 . . .       tonight 26, Tuesday 25, Wednesday 30

we are quickly moving into a "FAKE WEATHER" problem, last nights 29 degrees and 1 inch of snow was a nothing burger at noon today it is 55 and full sunny blue skies. I expect  the 25 degree overnight low tonight to be 60 degrees (with sun possible)

One of the less talked about issues of boat living and travel are the many creatures encountered on the dock, or coming on board, and discovered at sea as a stowaway.
       
Tropical boats around the globe frequently dock under the shade of trees, and or tie up to docks that emerge out of the jungle, snakes that swim (lizards swim too!), frogs and tree snakes and lizards that drop out of trees or swim aboard, and those are just the reptiles . . . the insects are another entire page of discussion.

              

The rat-guard pictured above is for the little furry creatures that live in the rain forest, palm trees, under docks and in the ground... it works well if you are tied a long way from the dock (beyond jumping distance). or your main deck is 5 feet higher than the dock AND you do not have a gangway.

There are monkeys, wharf rats, palm squirrels, mice, otter, dock cats, and other variables of them all (including the human kind), that come aboard, hideout, and look for food,  in the end, having an "alert"  dog aboard is the only solution.  

I talked back in the 22 November 2016 blog about Otters in Winchester Bay, this morning I pieced together a 2019 dock puzzle with seeing my "second" otter here in Florence. For some time now I have blamed children for undoing my coiled dock lines, 

but, this morning at 0530 when I let Bonnie out on deck, I heard a bird chirping, I looked and looked but could not locate it until it stood up . . . an Otter!

   Standing between the rail and dock-edge 15 feet away, he plopped noisily into the water angry at my presence. they do not like these concrete docks as well as the old wood, so we see far fewer here than in Winchester