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Diana Doyle enjoys “birding aboard” as she writes cruising guides

Diana Doyle — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 15:40:28 +0000

When my husband Mark and I started writing cruising guides,

we called them “enriched” guides because we wanted to include more than just the “mileposts and signposts” of transiting from one port to another.

When we cruised, we most enjoyed the learning experiences along the way. Although we were busy piloting, we were curious about the stories behind the island’s names, the birds and plants we were seeing, and the local history. But the existing guides didn’t fill in enough details. And I couldn’t tote along enough field guides, nature books, and regional history reading to cover the miles!

Interpretive vignette from “Managing the Waterway” (Mule Key to Loggerhead Key)

So when we started our series, although they are first and foremost navigation books, we decided to include what we called “interpretive vignettes”: short but detailed background reading on the sights, sounds, and stories along the way.

What marine animal makes that crackling noise under the hull at night?
What causes bioluminescence?
How can a large pelican hit the water at such high speeds?
How far can a flying fish fly?

Our cruising guides were a perfect business outlet for our mutual passions: Mark’s passions for computers, photography, design, and boats; and my passions for the outdoors, nature, writing, and research.

Cruising is like living an eco-tour.

When you cruise, nature is all around you. Although I try to balance the vignettes to include history, geography, geology, archaeology, and so on, my favorite vignettes to write are nature-based. I’m an avid (Mark says obsessive) bird-watcher (now called a “birder”), but I’m particularly interested in birds in their larger ecological context, which means plants, insects, climate, etc.

To help me write the vignettes, sometimes I think of myself as a guide on an eco-tour, interpreting all the amazing natural sights along a particular waterway or in an anchorage.

Atlantic Puffin

When you live aboard a boat, natural phenomena that other people pay to experience with a nature tour are regular daily sightings. Destinations that folks go on birding trips become your home for days or weeks!

In the Dry Tortugas, we anchored for days surrounded by the racket of thousands of sooty terns and brown noddies. They were our all-day companions. Most birders have to take a ferry out to the island and only spend a few hours before being herded back aboard for the return trip.

When we sailed the coast of Maine, we charted our course along Eastern Egg Rock to experience the successful reintroduction of an Atlantic Puffin colony. We had front row seats as puffins commuted back and forth with beak-fulls of tiny fish.

I was reminded of the unique vantage point of the cruising lifestyle when I read Return of the Osprey, by David Gessner. The author fervently wished to see an osprey haul a fish out of the water in its talons. I can’t even count how many times I’ve witnessed this event from our boat at anchor. Wildlife, doing their daily chores, are your neighbors when you live aboard.

But I want to do more than just “watch birds.”

On land, I love participating in projects that aid bird conservation. There are countless opportunities for this: Christmas Bird Counts (CBCs), Important Bird Area (IBA) surveys, or the Breeding Bird Atlas.

But what about when I’m birding aboard? Although I love watching birds, and searching for new birds, it’s not enough. Writing our cruising guides helps scratch that itch by letting me share my knowledge about common bird species. I also write articles on more advanced birding for nature magazines.

Now I’m ready to start my next project: a “CBC at Sea.”

As I brainstormed how I could bring my passion for bird conservation onto a moving vessel, I came up with the idea of a “CBC at Sea.”

CBC at Sea:

A call to those who spend time at sea to establish a worldwide annual bird count and contribute their ocean sightings to a citizen-science database for the study and conservation of pelagic species.

The cruising community is a huge untapped resource for citizen science. We are tuned in with our environment, educated, and interested in the marine world. We explore the less-traveled areas. And there are literally thousands of us out there!

Bridled Tern

Remember all the amazing bird sightings you’ve experienced at sea? The tropic bird colony along a rocky cliff? A seabird that followed your stern wake? The tired songbird that landed on your gunwale? The birds seen as you dinghied to a little island off your anchorage?

If you’re on the water and interested in nature, then you can really help.

Your sightings matter since there aren’t too many scientists who have the time and money to be where you are! Citizen science is the new thing in this massively-connected digital world. Research and conservation databases need reports from those of us who live unconventional lifestyles in unconventional places (admit it, live-aboard cruising is highly unconventional!)

It’s fine if you’re not a bird-whiz. We need to start somewhere and, just like land birding over the decades, knowledge will come in time. But we need to start getting the data and spreading awareness sooner than later! For example, when the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred, so little was known about seabirds on the Gulf of Mexico that the early spill data basically had to function as baseline information.

The initial idea is to have boaters from around the world record their local bird observations on a one-day count. Observations would be submitted to a central database, such as Cornell University’s eBird.

If you’re home-schooling, this is a perfect project to teach children about ornithology, marine biology, data-gathering and recording, citizen science, and seabird conservation. There remain so many unanswered questions about ocean birds, such as where some species breed or winter. Your child can help answer these puzzles!

If you’re interested in participating or staying updated about the CBC at Sea, send me an email at diana@managingthewaterway.com. I’ll send information as the project develops.

Get Involved in Seabird Citizen Science!

Even if you don’t consider yourself a birder, here are some tips to help you or your home-schooled child identify what you see.

Purchase a field guide for your area. Women and Cruising’s website includes many excellent regional suggestions.

Take notes or draw sketches of what you see. First look and record; identification can come later.

Ask locals. Their knowledge of nature usually far surpasses what’s available in field guides or even web searches.

Jot down what locals call a bird. Do they call it a “dry land booby” or a “diablotin”? That’s a black-capped petrel. Many regional field guides include local names.

Submit your sightings to Cornell’s eBird database so it can be used to help bird conservation and study trends (www.ebird.com). This is a great activity for home-schoolers.

About Diana Doyle

Diana Doyle and her husband Mark write the cruising guide and electronic charting series, Managing the Waterway. They wrote their first two guides, covering the Intracoastal Waterway and Florida Keys, while cruising on a PDQ catamaran and home-schooling their son.

Diana began birding at age seven, when her third grade visiting teacher, a “twitcher” (compulsive bird-lister) from the U.K., ignored the state-mandated curriculum and took his students birding all day—resulting in an entire class in remedial summer school. She recovered from that early academic setback to earn a Ph.D. from Yale and is still birding forty years later. A former political science professor with a lifelong interest in environmental conservation, she also holds a 50-ton USCG Master’s License.

Mark and Diana’s latest guide is An Illustrated Cruising Guide to the Great Loop Inland Waterway: Chicago to Mobile. You can see details on all their titles, see Mark’s photos, download additional cruising guide resources, and get the latest guide updates at their website: www.managingthewaterway.com.

More information (external links)

Christmas Bird Count, from Wikipedia
Audubon Official Christmas Bird Count (CBC) page
What is an Important Bird Area?
The ebird website (on-line database of bird observations)
Details on Mark and Diana Doyle’s cruising guides: www.managingthewaterway.com

Has cruising given you a unique opportunity to explore YOUR passions?

Do you have stories to share about how cruising has brought you up close to nature?

Do you want to get involved with the Christmas Bird Count at Sea?

Let us know.

Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.

Debbie Leisure: What I learned on my first solo trip to the Bahamas

Debbie Leisure — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:02:00 +0000

In September of 2009, Debbie Leisure wrote here on the Women and Cruising Blog about how she learned to single-hand her boat after the death of her husband. At the end of the post Debbie said that she planned to sail to the Bahamas this winter. So we recently asked Debbie to update readers – sharing what she has learned on this trip while it is fresh in her mind. Thanks, Debbie!

Yes, I’m sure I learned a lot his winter, my first solo trip to the Bahamas.

I’m also sure that I knew some of these things before setting out for the Bahamas, but I now REMEMBER that I knew them.

Lessons along the ICW

The learning experience did not take long to begin.

I left Oriental, North Carolina in October heading south along the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) and on my second morning out I ran aground.

What did I learn?

That I have to pay very close attention to currents, and I learned that TowBoat US towing insurance is a wonderful thing to have.

Also, that I can call TowBoat US before I run aground when in unfamiliar waters, and they will advise me and give me the local knowledge that I need.

Day three and another lesson.

I’m still not real sure exactly what the lesson was that day. But I did learn that you can call TowBoat US two days in a row and they keep coming to help!

What actually happened was that my anchor became fouled on something on the bottom.

After much maneuvering on my part, and advice from my buddy boat that was circling around, I could not release the anchor from the bottom. Thus, Towboat US.

Unfortunately, they also couldn’t retrieve my anchor and I had to cut the anchor chain leaving behind 30 feet of chain and a perfectly good anchor.

The area I was in was not such that I could dive on the anchor, and the cost of hiring a diver would not have offset the loss of the chain and anchor.

So, I guess what I learned was: Always have a spare anchor, which I did have.

Most of the rest of the trip down the ICW from North Carolina to Florida was uneventful. I managed to anchor, pick up moorings and dock alone without mishap.

My new chartplotter

The entire trip taught me that the new chartplotter I had added last year was an excellent addition to the equipment.

The chartplotter made all navigation easier, both in the ICW and in the Bahamas.

It was especially useful in the ICW on the day I got caught in the fog.

In the Bahamas

I can navigate through the narrow passes in the cays of the Bahamas with confidence and the chartplotter makes it so much easier.

When the anchor chain was wrapped around a coral head in a beautiful anchorage, I learned that I needed assistance.

And that’s okay, because friends and fellow cruisers are always ready to help anyone in need.

It’s a comfortable feeling, knowing that that support group is always there should you ever need it.

I learned that I will run aground and, no, there may not be a towboat handy. I learned that I can get myself off the sand and handle the boat and myself in uncomfortable situations.

I have learned that I can evaluate the weather predictions and choose safe anchorages for the weather conditions.

Do I always get it perfect? No.

But I learn each time and survived the less than perfect anchorages and each time I get better at making those anchorage decisions.

I learned that the Bahamas are beautiful, that the weather is not always perfect, that cruisers everywhere are wonderful, and each successful day adds to my feeling of self-confidence.

See you next year in the Bahamas.

About Debbie Leisure

Debbie Leisure sails her 29′ Island Packet, Illusions single-handed. Originally from Missouri, she sailed the Eastern Caribbean for five years. The island of Carriacou holds a special place in her heart.

Recently, Oriental North Carolina has been her home base. She spent this winter in the Bahamas (Abacos, Exumas and Eleuthera), and when she leaves the Bahamas this Spring she plans to sail back to North Carolina for hurricane season.