22:40N 020:54W

Monday, 16 Jan 1200 UT

 

Last night while on watch we crossed below 23.5 deg N and into the tropics – horrah!  Although no warmer yet.

Wind increased through the morning so we were able to make good way under sail.  Mum made delicious coleslaw for lunch which was much appreciated. 

 

Sea increased through the afternoon, at the moment looking out onto falling sun over navy seas expanding to the horizon, the yellowing sun dancing off every crest.  It really is a beautiful thing to be able to be out here and just see the sea and the life and the waves.  Its very meditative.  You’re sense of scale changes.  The sense of maximum - on watch under a starry sky with the incredible perspective of distance and space, the heavens literally curving around you like a velvety embrace.  Then you pass a really tiny weeny jellyfish floating by and suddenly you are drawn into the micro scale – the way a wave breaks, the other zooplankton that must be floating by, the little bubbles that are formed in our wake, the gas exchange happening and feeding into the water cycle (or maybe that is just the marine biologist in me).

 

 

I’m on dinner duty and making gnocchi with a salad.  Bungles is putting Lovesail to bed and readying for the watch handover.  There is a little sea bird that has been coming and going all afternoon.  I wonder if it will come on board this evening for a little rest with us.  Where is it going?  How long has it been out here?  Where does it get fresh water to drink?  These are the questions you have time to think about. 

 

Nighty night