April 8 Summary and Analysis

After several days in Guaymas, the Western Flyer is piloted back out into the Gulf again. They sail only a short ways and drop anchor, listlessly catching and eating a few fish for dinner. Everyone feels a bit gloomy for various reasons, some wanting to stay and some wanting to get on to the end. Early in the morning, they are woken up by fishermen heading out to work, complaining about the Japanese trawlers that are taking all the shrimp. It is an unpleasantly hot and humid day, and they decide to find the Japanese fishing fleet to see what is happening. Only about an hour south they come upon the Japanese processing ship as well as the smaller ships that do the fishing by dredging the bottom. Steinbeck wonders why the Mexican government would allow this total destruction of food...