Thursday 25th February
Awelina of Sweden
James Collier
Thu 25 Feb 2016 18:41
Gentle conditions with blue sky and brilliant blue sea at the moment so pretty ideal. Only downside is that we may not make it to port before nightfall on Friday which could man standing off the coast over night and possibly complication with customs and immigration who may not work at weekends.
This afternoon we have adjusted ship's time again, for the last time this trip, and are now three hours behind UTC but on Brazil time. We can tell that we are nearing the coast although still about 150 miles to go because we are now seeing shipping again having seen nothing for a week or more. We were also joined last night by a land bird who roosted for the night on one of the horseshoe lifebuoys. He was black and about crow size and shape but had a slim and slightly curved beak rather like a curlew. When the sun rose he preened himself and set off again before we got a good enough look to be sure of his identity.
We have tried fishing at last: up 'til now we haven't as it's incompatible with the towed generator but we've now taken that in. Fishing hasn't been a success however. Not very long after it went out yesterday afternoon there was a strike and the line went screaming off the reel, but on applying pressure the nylon line snapped, presumably worn through somehow. So this morning we tried with a large blue rubber squid which after an hour or so ran off for a few seconds and then stopped before we could get to the rod. But on hauling it in the lure had gone (I'm afraid it belonged to Tom so I'll buy a replacement). Whatever it was had cut through the wire trace and left scratches and slime on the bit still attached, probably a shark so perhaps just as well it got away! We now have another pink muppet on a wire trace but no strikes so far, probably as we are going so slowly.
Just before it got dark and we were about to haul it
shipping
fishing