chase/follow me 150 yards back to the boat. He was so persistent I almost expected him to find a way onboard.
I’ve never heard of a snake climbing up a rode/chain. And it would need to be a terrestrial variety. But I suppose stranger things have happened.
Suijun, not so. in Suva Harbor, I watched a banded sea snake slither up a Welsh friend’s anchor chain. There was little wind, and it was a largeish snake, on the order of 6 ft, which is large for the species. It caused quite a stir. Although quite poisonously venomed, these snakes venom apparatus is way back in their mouths, which are quite small, so not terribly dangerous to humans, unless they bite your toes, fingers, earlobes, or other dangly bits. Also, they are not aggressive, particularly, standard practice is to just throw them back in the water. It’s more of a drag than a danger.
Yes, as donradcliffe said, they do come up through cockpit drains, and via anchor chains, then the boat’s there for their exploration.
Although, one time, one climbed up an outboard leg, and wrapped itself round the o/b, for the lovely warmth. Next morning, Mrs. snake-phobic yachtie, bless her, pulled the string, to start the engine, which worked fine, but it upset the serpent, which came out into their little plywood dinghy. Shrieking ensued. But she coped. She motored the dinghy back to the boat, boarded via the ladder, tied the dinghy alongside, and got someone else to throw the snake back in.
Actually, though not common, such tales are not uncommon, either, if you are somewhere near “Snake Is.” or “Isle des Serpents” or where there are sea snakes. “Tricot Raye” are so common in New Caledonia, that they are also a cartoon character.
I know this is not what your talking about, but as a kid I had a large water moccasin drop into the canoe with me off of an overhanging limb.
I destroyed the paddle killing the snake and had to paddle back with my hands, luckily it wasn’t far.
Water moccasins are very aggressive and dangerous, being from the South where we have dangerous aggressive snakes, I don’t think I would be calm finding a large one in the boat with.
Not a snake but I had a 3′ iguana jump into the cabin with me last week while I was docked. I didn’t see it right away until it started thrashing around in the galley, making a hell of a mess. It was kinda funny since this is one of the ones I see around the dock a lot, named her Emma. All I had to do was yell at her to get the hell off my boat and she scurried out of the companion way through the cockpit and jumped overboard. I think she’s mad at me now.
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