Photo Quiz Answer
We got a lot of responses to the February 6 Photo Quiz:
"It is a tow-behind-the-boat clothes washing machine." Bill Crowley
"The ditch bag from Profligate or some other boat." Dave Nieuwstad, Sue & Gord in the Virgin Islands, and many others.
"Flotsam." Noble Brown and others.
"A mailbox." Jeff Thayer and many others.
"It’s my wife’s makeup kit, which fell overboard during our recent passage from Madagascar to Mozambique. We’ll pick it up when we get back to San Francisco in 2014." Dave & Jan, Baraka, currently in Simon’s Town, South Africa.
"It’s alien life from the planet Jug. Being half Scottish, I recognize the lower half. Clearly, it had a pony bottle on the spacecraft. After the spacecraft crashed into the ocean, it survived and was swimming back to the San Francisco Bay area in order to keep a date with Crissy Fields when the picture was taken." Wally Bryant.
"It’s a condenser-type watermaker." Glenn Kotara.
"It’s a fishing lure for a Great White." Richard Gilmore.
"It’s a stop for geocaching. The float is tied to a permanent spot (the rebar) and the geocaching reward is in the envelope." Rick Wilson.
"It’s the contents from the shopping cart of a homeless dolphin." Jim Jensen.
"This one’s easy. It’s a portable fuel tank, possibly from a leaf blower." Greg van Dalen.
"It’s a personal flotation device which was used to swim to Cuba to escape the tyrrany of the USA. I hope he made it." Darryl in snowy Scotland.
"A aquatic scarecrow, set up by salmon farmers to scare away dolphins ,who simply snicker and laugh." Ken Brinkley.
"This is a DIY abandon ship kit that has been ripped off its mounting by a heavy sea. The boat was singlehanded and probably in southern waters. The kit was washed overboard in the past 10 days, so I would look for weather of more than Force 6 within 200 miles during the past 10 days, then look to wind direction and follow that upwind to find the boat that lost this. Current would have only a slight affect on the course of drift of this flotsam." Dennis Kirkwood.
"Mexican liferaft. As you may know, several fisherman have been saved by their coolers." Judith Singer
"We have one of these. His name is Bob, the crew overboard guy." Ken Fouts.
"It’s a scale model of the Pacific Garbage Patch. It was built at a cost of $1.2 million, funded by a grant from the federal government to see whether the garbage patch can be adapted as a breeding ground for the striped sea otter. So far it has not been successful. They just need more money. Hoping for the first results in 2036." Andy Crawford.
While all were excellent guesses, it’s actually the floating tool shed of Augustine, a much-liked service provider in Zihuatanejo. "He swam a half-mile to reach our boat," report photographers John and Gilly Foy of the Punta Mita-based Catalina 42 Destiny, "before doing a super job of cleaning the bottom for $40. We knew he’d do a good job because we used him two years ago. Augustine is able to clean bottoms without using tanks because he’s able to hold his breath for what seems like forever. He swims between client boats pushing his floating tool shed before him."
Augustine gets many positive reviews. "This guy is fantastic!" writes Pat McIntosh of the Carmichael-based Cheoy Lee 35 Encore. "He pulls his stuff behind him and swims around to all the boats anchored out in Zihuatanejo Bay, shows you a card that explains his services and prices in English — because he only speaks Spanish — and gets the job done. He spends the whole day — maybe his whole life — in the water, doesn’t use fancy gear, and does a fast, great job."
