45.28N:12.12W

Plambeck
Fri 23 May 2014 18:42
Blog 13. JP

On my chart table I have a chart covering all of the Atlantic north of the equator. It is to keep me humble because, however good your daily run, you see the total distance of your cruise and even the best daily run does not exceed the width of a finger. I am now also looking a this chart which also indicates a number of submarine features. we are crossing over from the Iberian Abyssal Plain to the Porcupine Abyssal Plain, both 4 to 5000 metres below. The surface here is still rather rough and has been abysmal. The naming of some of the abyssal feature makes one wonder. (Lets ignore Abyssinia for a moment and call it Ethiopia). From east to west these include The Kings Trough (for his seahorses to drink from??), Olympus Knoll (another famous Jamaican runner?), Milne Bank and Milne Seamounts (what else has Caroline been hiding from me?). But most intriguing is the abyssal Porcupine. Could it have been named after a long deceased First Lord of the Admiralty? Has the body of one been dredged up with a tonne of foraminifera? Only one thing is certain - it cannot be the name of a ship. Nobody would name one after a creature so ill equipped to swim, dive or hold its breath under water.
Remember Philips quote from an earlier blog 'sail south till the butter melts ...' We were amazed how quickly the water and air temperatures decreased after leaving the caribbean. We have long since taken the butter out of the fridge. Now it is even at cabin temperatue difficult to spread.
The wind has decreased a little, the sun makes occasional appearnances and it is less than 400 nm to Falmouth. With luck we shall get there with the reaching breeze that stayed with us from Terceira. Over the first 5 days we have covered 790 miles.
Bye for now, must take my afternoon nap (still in a borrowed berth).
J