Stow Aways
Cerys
Wed 26 May 2010 16:52
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37:46N 23:29W
6.1 Knots
Under Main, Motor and Poled Out Head
Sail
Great whale experience yesterday. We had 4 fin
whales, about 10 metres long around us for about half an hour. One in particular
was very curious and came within 100M of us on a few occasions diving below us
twice. In the distance was a large whale which could have been a
blue.
Lost our GPS fixes for some reason. All of the
units on board were giving either odd readings placing us just off the coast of
spain or no readings at all. Luckily we have been practising our celestial
navigation.
Its difficult to shake the Azores. Sailing along
the coast of Sao Miguel this evening. Its taking a long time to put it astern of
us. Seems like about 25-30 miles long and we have very little wind. It is odd to
us to have land so close at night, we are used to the open ocean. At a mile off
David has been using his phone and getting mail which has not been possible for
a long time. 40 Hours at sea, the islands still visible.
The weather is now quite warm again during the day.
We are back to shorts and have put the bimini back up for shelter. At night its
a little chilly under an almost full moon but nothing like last
week.
Reflecting on our weekend in the Azores, it is
definitely a place we would all like to revisit. I was very surprised. >From a
distance it looks like Ireland, green and subdevided fields cross the hills, but
there is so much more vegetation. Its like Kerry with a large moustache. The air
is pure making the clouds and landscape strikingly vivid and the sea is crystal
clear and teeming with life as it washes on the black volcanic rock. The place
is incredibly cheap.
Joey awoke me this morning at 0600 with his
usual "Ruaidhri its time". I told him I was not getting up in future unless he
addressed me as Captain. The breakfast he prepared for me afterwards was
skimpier than usual.
We have six stow away mosquitos aboard. Residents
of the azores, we had difficulty communicating with them at first. They seem
quite intellegent as they do not bite the captain but feed under cover of
darkness on all crew. We have managed to identify their leader and have
negotiated a restrictedarea where feeding is not permitted. We, in turn, have
promised safe passage to Lisbon.
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