Latitude 11 18.395N ; longitude 34 43.942W Saturday 10 December 2022

We are cracking along now on a course over the ground of about 285 degrees in 16 knots of wind from east, north east…. heading straight for Barbados. At last we are making good boat speed 5-6 knots and our longitude is starting to increase! Our run today was 116nm…. Only 1,444nm to go :) The weather is also sunny, so solar panels and wind turbine are working well, generating power, keeping things like the freezer going…. Although as it’s getting hotter our little freezer is struggling, so Greg is hatching a cunning plan to help it…..

We have a big ocean planning chart we brought before leaving; it is too big for the chart table, so we fold it strategically to view the area we are in. Over the last 3 months we have been at the top, then the bottom of the chart, but always on the very right hand edge as we’ve headed south from UK …..in fact we are almost off the bottom of the chart, only 11 degrees north of the equator! Bonkers? Last night, when we had started heading west, Greg re-folded the chart…. we can now see the left hand edge on the chart table, and the Caribbean islands :) This has lead us to conversations about our arrival in the Caribbean, looking at pilot books, electronic charts, info we have downloaded etc. It’s likely to be about 23rd December? If the wind holds? It would be great if this is the case, as we’d like to check in and get the all important data SIM card before Christmas….. but it really is in the lap of the gods?

We are now into our 8th day at sea, this is the longest passage we have ever done on Blue Argolis …. but with only 707nm covered since we set off, not the longest distance we have covered in 1 passage, (we did 850nm Tenerife to Cape Verde in 7.5 days!) But, hopefully our daily average will pick up now. Life on board responds to the weather and has a rhythm of its own. And we are certainly enjoying the sailing :)

There is much made on some people’s blogs of the crew getting together in an evening and having a ‘sundowner’; a sociable time, conversation, food etc before the start of night watches. Greg and I have always sailed a dry boat, that is we never drink alcohol at sea! Yes, you read right, we don’t drink at sea! (We just make up for that in harbour ;) This is partly because of our sailing instructor past, partly the sort of sailing we’ve done, and partly because we’ve just never enjoyed it. We did talk about a ‘sundowner’ before we left land, but, decided that this was not something that we were really bothered about, so we didn’t really provision any grog rations. However, rules, particularly self imposed ones, are made to broken! When the weather calmed and warmed, we’ve found ourselves on deck or below in an evening, usually we eat supper, play a hand or two of cards, and yes, you’ve guessed it, we’ve had a ‘sundowner’ (well there was some in the locker ;) and throughly enjoyed it! …. It’s partially beneficial for the person taking the first off-watch as it helps them off to sleep….. ;) we think this is a habit that, when conditions allow, we might continue on long passages :) ….. *as long as stocks last ;’)

So, our journey continues, Alpha Whiskey, 

Yours aye