Day 11

We've heard through the grapevine that a few people have been leaving comments and questions for us on this blog. Thanks for all your support and interest in our adventure! Unfortunately though, we can't surf the internet from the boat, only upload blogs via email. Therefore, we can't get back to you guys until we're in Hilo and have found a stable internet connection. Thanks again, and don't feel like we're ignoring you.
It's a bit disturbing how much trash we see floating randomly. Every 20 minutes or so we see something plastic or styrofoam bob by. It's crazy that 900 miles out from the closest land, you can still see the effect that man can have on this planet. One of those effects conveniently woke us up with a startle around midnight two days ago.
The engine was running, and we were both catching some shut-eye while Brizo II was doing all the work. Suddenly, a loud repetitious thunking noise jolted us awake. Jon hit the kill switch for the motor, and went to the engine room to investigate. Thankfully, nothing went wrong mechanically on our end--it was the massive 30 foot long nylon fishing net that was now wrapped around our propeller that caused the commotion. Peering overboard at it, you can see rotting fish carcasses and old bones of past victims that also couldn't get out of its way.
The idea of jumping overboard in the middle of nowhere with just a flashlight and a knife to cut away the tangled mass on our prop about 3 feet under the waterline did not sound like much fun to either of us. We grabbed our gaff (big hook on a stick for retrieving fish on deck) and decided to hack off as much as possible, for tonight, anyway. We would deal with the rest in the morning when we could actually see.
As we wrestled and hacked at the net that night, we had a bit of an audience. Some bioluminescent squid were acting like little neon green cheerleaders, lighting up and flashing every time we made any jerky movements. Even though the situation was frustrating, that was pretty cool.
After drifting til sunrise (no wind and no engine means no go!) we were able to unhook the rest of the net from the prop just by using the gaff from on deck. These kind of issues are much easier to deal with when you can actually see what the hell you're doing!
Very light winds are making the last half of our journey tough. We keep motoring until we find wind, sail, then repeat when the wind dies. We did however, experience our first squall last night. The sky grew dark, swells increased in size, and winds picked up just a bit. But it only lasted a few minutes, and wasn't all that bad. So, maybe this was just a weak one, or we are yet to experience the true squalls that many sailors fear.
Ever see a flying fish? They look pretty funny while trying to get out of the boat's way. They beat their tails frantically and try to soar just a few inches above the water with their super long fins out like wings. Luckily, none have decided to commit suicide on our decks like those pesky squid.