Lots and lots of sea

Saxon Blue's Blog
Harvey Jones and Andrea Stokes
Sun 2 Jan 2011 22:35
22:28.377N 62:50.839W Sunday evening

We're still making good progress and it looks as though we'll arrive in St Martin early on Tuesday which is just as well as it's a bit boring here! I don't think I'm cut out for these long passages. I'm feeling fine - even had a shower this morning but it's pretty dull. The Atlantic Ocean sounds romantic but, in reality, it's just one wave after another with nothing else to see. We've all been getting along fine and I've had some good times chatting to Kali and laughing with Bill. His anti-Speedo wearing rant was particularly enjoyable. He does swimming races himself and reckons he'd rather lose than wear tight trunks.

We're still chatting to Big Bill on Alerre twice a day. They're having all kinds of disasters. Their water tanks are filled with brackish water which they took on in Bermuda, they've run out of cooking gas and they have diesel leaking into their bilge. They also have various electrical problems with their toilet and engine and they've run out of Iridium minutes so they're not having a very easy passage. At least they left Bermuda with loads of bottled water or we'd have to run over there on a mercy dash. It's great that we've had such a smooth passage so far - I think our preparation is paying off.

I've seen loads of flying fish today and we had four land on the deck overnight. Apparently, they're attracted to the lights. They have massively elongated fins just by their gills. When these are folded out, the leading spine is thicker than the others so that must generate some lift. I was trying to see if they flap or flick their fins but I think all the propulsion comes from their tail as they leave the water. Then they just glide, I think.

Apart from that, I've seen one seagull and a beautiful Frigate Bird, just soaring around looking for other birds to bully. We haven't seen another vessel for days. We're just motor-sailing along with the wind on the port quarter, not quite enough to sail. The sea is big enough to roll us around a bit but not anything exciting. We passed over a bit of sea this morning that's 6000 meters deep - getting on for four miles of water. That's pretty amazing but, from on deck, it looks just like every other bit. I'm so looking forward to seeing the islands.

Harvey

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