Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight

[chouliha]

Squid ink?

[old pirate]

I'll second squid !

[Naughty Cat]

Is squid not blue/black and cuttlefish ink more brown? Cuttlefish ink is not pungent, but are they chased in the same way? I have no experience or knowledge of them. There is certainly a lot of dolphin and whale activity in that region as it descends to the Ligurian trench. Had an amazing whale sightimg in the morning off Loana but the two things are probably not related.

I'm going to rule out fruit bats and flying foxes for now.

[BlackHeron]

Barkeeper's Friend. Scrubba-scrubba. Or hire a detailler to do it for you. Doesn't really matter what beastie did it. You gotta get it off now and then put some wax back down to seal the raw gelcoat.

[Mike Banks]

It looks like heron or some other wading or sea bird bird crap to me. They sometimes eat blood worms and cockles from the mud flats and occasionally have darker crap--

Soak it in warm water plus detergent, then after a while after the detergent has loosened it, hose it off.

[JC Reefer]

Originally Posted by Naughty Cat

It had no discernible flavour (although I consumed very little). The area smelt a little fishy, and whilst I initially thought oil, it dried to stain the deck. it looks as though it had fallen

Lmfao. This smell fishy to me too. Almost like you’re baiting us here. Your must be joking.

Feel like we are being trolled. Good one.

[Orion Jim]

You need a spittoon.....someone has been dipping snuff.....

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by redhead

Cormorant crap. They eat fish so it's brown and oily. Stinks.

Hint: it also dries to a concrete like finish, so best get it off fast.

Looks just like the cormorant crap that destroyed our new $1500.00 bimini when it was 2 days old.

[NYSail]

Bird poop. You tasted bird poop.

[JPA Cate]

So what? Taste is one of the tools you have for testing what's filling your bilge, and you'd prefer to taste fresh water, even though it means you may have a serious lack of potable water problem to solve...and of course, there are other tests in the sequences one uses.

Ann

[zeehag]

birdees poop brown. doves grackles and herons poop brown stuff.. sometimes is flying brown stuff sometimes is walking brown stuf and sometimes even statioary brown stuff.. b i r d p o o p

[Naughty Cat]

Precisely. I was actually worried that it might be a toxic chemical, hence I only had a little (I wasn't aiming for a whole lot more if I had known it was organic I must add). Who knows what gets lost at sea, especially with Genoa being such a big commercial port.. I thought everyone did this!

I will research the range of cormorants offshore.

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

So what? Taste is one of the tools you have for testing what's filling your bilge, and you'd prefer to taste fresh water, even though it means you may have a serious lack of potable water problem to solve...and of course, there are other tests in the sequences one uses.

Ann

[tarian]

Taste is the least of the senses . most taste is Round 80 percent smell , the taste buds are weak in the link . Smell before sticking it in you gob . Try holding your nose and then eat something blind you will soon learn..... honestly I remember camping once and heard a father scream at his child ..... Why did you eat the berry again you would think you have learned your lesson after the hospital visit yesterday ...

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by Naughty Cat

Is squid not blue/black and cuttlefish ink more brown? Cuttlefish ink is not pungent, but are they chased in the same way? I have no experience or knowledge of them. There is certainly a lot of dolphin and whale activity in that region as it descends to the Ligurian trench. Had an amazing whale sightimg in the morning off Loana but the two things are probably not related.

I'm going to rule out fruit bats and flying foxes for now.

Squid ink starts off blue/black but dried slowly not in the sun leaves brown stains.
Flash with bleach followed up with melamine sponge will remove it if done quickly. The sun will eventually bleach it out after a long period.

[Naughty Cat]

Thank you for all of the responses. I will never know for sure (unless it happens next week when I reverse the route) but I am leaning towards squid for the following reason - it had to have happened at least 20 miles offshore and, from my research, this is too far for a cormorant. I see a lot of gulls (we all do) and the substance was too consistent, in my opinion, to have been excreted by a gull. Which leads me towards squid or something similar. There was a lot of staining on the trampoline, the substance was very consistent in colour and texture, there was the pungent smell but not - at least by the time i got to it, an especially pungent taste - and it would have browned overnight as it lay there. Finally, we were crossing the Ligurian trench where there is a fair amount of pelagic activity.