Day 7 At Sea
Escapade
Fri 2 Dec 2016 11:09
Miles travelled since Guernsey 2,146
Miles to Antigua 2,084
Miles since leaving Gran Canaria 777
So here we are morning of day 7 at sea, we have had the motor on for 3.9 days, leaving us with approx 100 litres of fuel. At least we are heading in the right direction, the butter has melted and we are now on course for Antigua. The latest weather/grib files received show that the trade winds are quite established so we should be getting more consistent winds hopefully!
Day 4. Motored all day, flat calm, in fact on the port side the dark waters resembled slow moving, molten treacle whilst the starboard side was more like liquid mercury with the sun and clouds being reflected as in a mirror, quite awesome.
Day 5. Got a bit of breeze so managed to get the engine off and sail for the day, decided it was a good day to start on the tans so stripped off…why not, no one to see us out here?! We did the weekly washing in the bucket and it dried on our makeshift line within a couple of hours. We passed a pair of logger head turtles which we thought bizarre in the middle of nowhere but later read up that they cross oceans to get to their favourite feeding grounds and enjoy jelly fish along the way. So near perfect morning enjoying our fresh fruit smoothie in the sunshine, no engine noise, reading our books and what does James decide to put on the stereo? Only Madness!!
Day 6. Engine on all day again, flat calm and overcast which was a bit of a relief in all honesty as we managed to burn our naughty bits yesterday! lol. James moaned ‘we just as well have bought a motor boat, Leigh and Angela would have been there by now!" At least with this calm we have managed some good sleep and we even have the table up in the cockpit which is nice to have our meals at. although we have been off the booze for a week already, Im not sure we have managed to loose any weight just yet as I have been enjoying conjuring up some terrific grub, even if I do say so myself! The dolphins came to play early this morning whilst having our first coffee at sunrise. We both felt a bit frustrated and lethargic today, we are never going to beat or even match last years crossing time at this rate, I couldn’t even be arsed to peel the over ripe bananas to put in the freezer but soon snapped out of it after a short game of eye spy and a leg dangle over the stern (sea 26 deg).Because of the clear skies the stars have been awesome and the phosferessance quite magical. James said he was on deck during his night watch when the dolphins were frolicking in the swells looking like silver torpedoes under water, incredible. My night watch last night had no moon, no stars, no horizon, just black, black, black, makes you feel quite insignificant, a mere speck, chugging along at 5.5 knots in this vast expanse of ocean.
For those that might be interested, it is now 12 weeks since my operation. I have been slowly reducing my meds over the past 4 weeks and I went without anything yesterday without ill affects, so hopefully that is another hurdle over. Unfortunately the front of my leg is numb from mid thigh to ankle so when I kneel, I can see I am kneeling but have no sensation of contact at all which is such a strange feeling and one which I may have to get used to, we’ll see.