Wildlife

Even in a large marina such as the one that I berth my boat in there is plenty of evidence of the local wildlife. Early in the morning one can sit in the cockpit and watch the birds as they wake and paddle or fly by. Gazing into the water, you can occasionally see fish around the docks, rising to grab some tidbit from the surface.

On our docks, however, the most prevalent of the local fauna seem to be a large variety of spiders. You can't be too squeamish about our eight-legged friends and spend much time at this marina.

I arrived there one early evening, walked down the ramp to the dock, up to the finger pier next to my boat, and through a web spun across the uprights. After using a hose to try (mostly unsuccessfuly) to remove the webs from the boat, I resorted to sponges and other means. After spending the night on the boat, I went very early up to restrooms, walking through the same reconstructed web again. (The next morning I was savvier; I anticipated the web, saw the dark spot at the center of the nearly invisible web, and ran my finger down one side of it, sending the occupant over to the side. By the way, although the dark shape of the spider appeared in the dim light of the dawn to be about the size of a dinner plate, I'm sure that it was an optical illusion. Counting the legs it was probabbly much larger.)

When I prepared the boat for sailing, I removed the mailsail cover and discovered that about a dozen spiders of various sizes had taken up residence under it. The hardest part was making sure they were all removed (and overboard) before I put the cover down below. Sitting in cockpit, I keep a sponge handy as a way to remove new visitors climbing up and down the rigging.