First of all: Mom, don't freak out! Our Captain Eliza, and our First Mate Paul have been through these weather phenomena before, and lived to tell us about it. This morning, around 9AM Captain Eliza spotted a spout from the quarter deck. It looked like it was about ten miles away, but it looked wonderful. A water spout is a mini tornado that occurs over the water. The bottom of it is usually on the water, and the top of it goes into a cumulus cloud. Spouts can be made of salt water that the wind picks up as spray from the ocean, or fresh water that is condensed air gathered together from the big difference in pressures around the system.
   

My first reaction to this was: awesome. Eliza immediately correct me: "No Drew, not awesome - bad!" She is right of course, but being from temperate Seattle, I've seen very little of extreme weather. The water spout this morning was like some one stirring up a latte the size of Rhode Island ten miles away. That was sweet. 

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