9th July 2008 - Almerimar to San Jose (death of the crew)
Bali Hai
Neal Stow
Wed 9 Jul 2008 17:19
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At their age you would have thought that they would
have known better. While Big Pete, Tracy and I came back to the boat
last night at a late but reasonable hour, Bali Hai's answer to the Liver
Birds decided to stay for one or two more drinks. I am not sure when they
returned but apparently when Tracy got up part way through the night she found
Mike unconscious in the cockpit and Thin Pete curled up in the foetal position
on the small sofa in the saloon. She returned to bed but was awakened not
long after by the Bali Hai nasal band playing with gusto in the cabin
next door, accompanied intermittently by Big Pete and his deep bass
snoring.
Well the boys paid for it today, even with a long
lie-in for a 11 o'clock departure, they moved about the boat in a zombie
like state for most of the day.
The forecast was for no wind (in fact the forecast
is for very little wind the rest of the week) and we motored for a large part of
the day with winds of just 1-2 knots. As we
approached Cabo de Gata the breeze picked up and we managed quite a good
few hours of sailing (albeit mostly in the wrong direction as both the wind and
current were coming from where we wanted to go). Big Pete helmed most of
the time while Thin Pete and Mike lay on the deck, only stirring when two whales
passed by. They were a few hundred yards away but breaking the surface and
spouting water every so often they were still impressive.
We are now anchored just of San Jose, which bears
little resemblance to its Californian counterpart but is pleasant
nevertheless. Unfortunately it is open to the swell coming in from the
east and worryingly we may be in for another rolly
night.
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