Wildlife strikes again

Please recall that the spring resurrection of our ski boat went off-schedule week before last due to a reptile intrusion. We had to make sure a snake we had spied was no longer under the canvas boat cover piled on the dock.

This took about a week, with the canvas cover off the boat, to make sure the snake had left the area. Finally, Dia and I returned to work Wednesday afternoon.

The first discoveries of the day were two neat piles of mammal scat on a seat in the ski boat's bow. The culprits could have been small gorillas. More likely, they were river otters.

Adorable creatures, aren't they?

Using my considerable wilderness skills to analyze the droppings, I determined the otters were long gone. Work could proceed.

We scrubbed, vacuumed, cleaned windows, polished instrument lenses...

...until we sensed something wrong.


There was this pervasive, disgusting aroma. A search for the source lead to an under-seat life jacket locker. Inside, on top of a bed of dock lines, we found a reeking pile of coarse scales, two bone-clean gill plates and a largely-intact fish tail.

These were, beyond a doubt, the decomposing 3-days-old remains of  a fairly large river carp. Our otter visitors must have captured the carp and dined well, then moved on, leaving only meal scraps and fecal deposits.


We hauled the ski boat  yesterday afternoon and it now sits on its trailer by our front gate.


First thing this morning, it's going downtown to the Dazzling Car Care detail shop for a complete cleaning and waxing. I hope they don't find any more troubling wildlife in that boat.  It wouldn't surprise me, however,  if they discovered an anaconda or an alligator. Wild creatures seem attracted to our boats.


Meanwhile, in  cruise news,  Ms. Bettencourt's trailer has been completely serviced and the little trawler herself is about 80 percent loaded for a trip to the St. Johns River in Florida. My friend Paul and I will be trailering  the boat South from here early in June.

Detailed planning and marina arrangements will begin this week.

 Please check back for more about the trip in future posts.