I have a new nemesis.
I used to have a lot of them. Alarm clocks, hangovers, well meaning but annoying managers (Sorry, to any ex-managers reading this), the Ballard bridge…..the list goes on.
My current nemesis is a small crab. No bigger than a Chicken McNugget (the round one) only not as thick. Actually, I don’t know if it is one single, insanely tenacious crab or a series of crabs that are networked together and have some sort of crab jihad against me and my knot meter.
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::Definition::
Knot Meter: Small, ridiculously delicate paddle wheel that spins as water rushes past it as the boat moves though the water. The RPMs of the paddle wheel are then transferred to a chart plotter to let us know how fast we are moving through the water. Crabs or no crabs, they never really work very well or for very long. Which explains why they are so expensive.
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The fact that it is not working is not really a big deal, since we also get our speed from the GPS. But the GPS gives us speed over the ground, which is usually different than our speed through the water. In other words, it doesn’t really fuckin matter. But it’s there, and I want it to work. And it would work if not for these pesky freedom hating crabs.
The problem is the small hole that the knot meter is mounted in is almost exactly the same size and shape as a thin Chicken McNugget (the round one). Which unfortunately is also the same size as this goddamn crab(s).
At each anchorage, one of us will dive overboard and swim under the boat to free up the knot meter. Each time a little crab will scurry out of the Nugget hole (scaring the shit out me). I try to smash it, but it is to fast. It will then disappear. I never see it again. Each time I think, “HA, that got it”, and go about the rest of my day. And each time we haul up the anchor to go to the next place the knot meter is not working because the crab has crawled back in the hole and jammed up the knot meter.
I do get a little pleasure imagining the little bastard pinned down in the little Nugget hole by one of the paddle wheels. But it’s fleeting….
Maybe i’m over thinking this. Maybe these little crabs are just stupid and have no idea about me or anything outside their little world. They may just see the Nugget hole and think, “Hole. I fit. Eat stuff”
Anyway, we are in Panama. Should be in Panama City in about a week. Will have some internet then and will post some pictures. Hopefully one of a dead crab…and maybe one of some Chicken McNuggets. I’m sorta craving them now.