Snorkeldive in 2.600m deep waters (eng) 13.5.2011, 15:10
Andromeda
Michael
Fri 13 May 2011 21:51
94nm off Nicaragua, 121nm til Panama
13.5.2011, 15:10
Last night was calm and we sailed well through the stars. When I went to bed after dinner and a TV Series, the moon was shining bright and bathed the ocean in a beautiful white light.
When Michael woke me up at 0230 am, the wind had got down a bit but we were still doing 5-6 knots with main sail and genoa.
The shift was calm, only one ship passed, and I worked most of the time on organizing our music library (it's got about 7,000 songs by now, you really can spend hours on that).
In the last morning hours I had to turn on the engine (the starboard one as we couldn't fix the port one, yet) as the wind went down quite a bit and when Michael got up in the morning, we changed genoa for schreecher again and had quite a nice sail for a while. p
Not sure for how long since I went to get my second portion of sleep and when I woke up at noon the engine was running again. The true wind went down to 3-5 knots!
At least it was so calm that yoga and exercises on the deck were possible.
It's been overcast the entire day, but hot and humid and very calm - until Michael decided to jump for a refreshment in the cobalt blue ocean. We had stopped the engine and were doing only 2 knots, so he could easily hold on to the swim ladder. However, I wasn't too excited jumping in.
Still feel a bit funny when I can't see any ground and am in the middle of nowhere! Who knows what's going on deep down...? So I friendly declined the offer to go for a little snorkel exploring around the boat.
However, when we wanted started the engine again it stalled and to our surprise we found the sheet of the spinnaker that had been lying on the deck ready to use again tangled up around the propeller.
Uh, I knew exactly what that meant: Michael's still got problems with his ears and can't dive and we need to free the propeller, soooooo - I had to face my unlogical fear of the blue abyss, quickly grab mask, snorkel and fins and jump into the water. At least it is really warm here - 90 deg F (32 deg C)! Anyway, a pounding little heart makes diving more challenging as it really affects the air usage.
The sheet had wrapped around the propeller about 13 times and was jammed in between a blade and the shaft. It all took a good 10 minutes, but in the end I successfully freed the engine and was back on the boat safely.
Actually, it's been beautiful in this amazingly thick blue water - maybe it's about time to put some EFT into practice and get over this silly and sometimes rather annoying fear.
So, the day has been rather eventful after all. Sun is setting, so it's time for a truly deserved virgin sundowner!
This will be the 4th and last night shift on this trip. Meanwhile, it's 18:45 here and we've got another 102nm to go. But the current now is with us (only about 0.5 knots, but better than nothing) and even if we have to keep motor sailing, we shall arrive tomorrow afternoon at Bocas del Toro.
PS: EFT = emotional freedom technique; very helpful when applied, if you're curious you can find more information under: www.emofree.org (or www.emofree.com)
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com