22:08.524N 021:15.5W Head South Until the Butter Melts
Everything is settling down now back into the groove with life at sea. This morning found us with Ian at the helm, preparing for another gybe to go west.
The first couple of days had been rather exhausting after all the preparation in Las Palmas prior to our departure.
We are now 4 days into the passage, with a distance of approximately 550 nautical miles sailed.
Stuart is taking good care of our crew, leading manoeuvres and narrating passage plans.
Manuela is busy preparing fresh meals twice a day, which are helping to settle most of the tummies onboard, as well as serving some intellectual victuals of Spanish and French conversation practice.
Sarah has been assimilating to the occasional soft banshee wails of the autopilot
Our plan is to head south to a latitude of approximately 23 degrees - at this time of year Stuart advises that it is better to go South ("Until the butter melts!" adds Ian) than to stay higher in northerly latitudes - even more important now as the tropical storm Wanda passes further north.
We have just passed in front of a French yacht and made contact over VHF to converse briefly en francais - they are coming from the south of France heading to the Antilles and then through the Panama Canal in February.
Stuart passed around packets of Taytos to celebrate the contact and regaled us with tales of mid-Atlantic swimming tactics.
Sarah and Ian observed some plastic debris floating past us, the first instance of this during the trip.
So far, the ocean has been quiet with marine life. Yesterday evening there was a little moon helping to make the night shifts brighter. We are accompanied during the dark hours by a loyal stream of phosphorescence flashing radiantly out of our stern and surging us onwards.
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