17:56.75N 55:01.06W
Day 19. Fri 03 Feb. 18 Days
of Sailing
Distance Covered: 2815 nautical miles
Distance To Go: 399 nautical miles (as the crow flies so this will be
more, especially as we go around the island to enter the harbour
)
Approx. Arrival Time – Monday morning…
Well, this may well be my
last post at sea! After almost three weeks at sea we now find ourselves within a
few hundred nautical miles of land. Yesterday we spotted two birds – a sure sign
that land is approaching, but as yet no other ships ….
We are all getting excited
with the thought of our imminent arrival – the girls can’t wait to have a swim
and Erwin and I are looking forward to a decent night’s sleep and a cold
(alcoholic) beverage overlooking a beach.
Our night shifts have
fallen into a pattern that suits us both, and I must say last night, with no
squalls to deal with and a pretty steady wind we both had our best night’s sleep
yet. Our shifts have worked out to be as follows:
I do the first short shift
between 7:30/8pm until 10pm whereby Erwin takes over and does the 10pm – 1am
shift. I then do the 1am-4am shift, Erwin the 4-7am shift and finally I give
Erwin a couple of hours hopeful sleep before breakfast at 9am. If I’ve had a
busy night I then put my head down after breakfast … This has worked well for us
both - Erwin, being the gentleman that he is doesn’t mind which shifts he does
as long as I am happy, lucky me.
So, shall get the weather
forecast now and hope it is to continue like this – clear skies, steady winds
and calm seas.
The sea has been getting
steadily warmer as felt by our showers on deck which consists of throwing a
bucket (or several) of sea water over ourselves before finishing off with a
short, fresh water rinse ( though being the cold water woos that I am I take
more sink – filled washes than the cold water ‘showers’ on deck). Roll on a hot
shower! We will all be in there for hours I think; something else to heartily
look forward to.
So Antigua here we
excitedly come and in the scheme of things we have a very short way to go now
…..
Next update will hopefully
be from Antigua!
Jane, Erwin, Sofia and
Isabel
xxxx
