Monday  18^th January 2010

Egret rien?

We woke to find that the egret / heron was still with us.  The skipper has renamed her Edith (after Piaf).  We also found another dead flying fish on the deck so Andy filleted it and fed it to Edith on the foredeck putting the fish in a bowl of water so she got some along with her feed.  She was obviously very hungry and the meal didn’t take long!  

It was a very good sailing day – a broad reach with speeds up to 8 knots.  The wind got up in the afternoon and so did the swell but it was good to be making steady progress again.

We all slept and read when not on watch.  Lunch was taken in the saloon as it was so hot on deck and rather rocky rolly.  Our last lettuce is doing well and we had a salad with cold pate, ham and cheese.

We all agreed to forgo our goujons of Dorado (the previously planned lunch) in aid of fattening up Edith.  She seems to like to be fed and we wondered if she has been a pet on a boat.  She appears to have the remains of a piece of string round one of her legs.  We can’t think what she was doing so far out to sea and we still hope she gets her strength up and flies off, especially as we are proceeding quickly at the moment to Antigua which might not be her planned destination.

It was a lovely sunset – I was on watch and Bernie cooked dinner.  We had bangers and mash with peas and very good it was too. He got less ribbing this time from the crew who all agreed it was a very good supper.

We did not put our clocks back today as planned as the daylight hours are working out well for out watch pattern.  We may wait until Wednesday or even later – we have 3 hours to lose now to make us Antiguan time.)

It was a very violently rocky night but we all managed to get some sleep despite being thrown around.

Tuesday 19^th January

We are still sailing well.  It was a lovely sunrise with the sun coming up through a few patchy clouds, which added to the atmosphere. The skipper informs us that we will get to the half way point (based on mileage) tomorrow sometime. Let’s hope we have another good day and make up for our two slow ones.  There were a lot of flying fish around, including one Andy had put in our bucket after it landed on the deck having flown past his ear and into the steering console. 

Edith was still with us which was surprising bearing in mind how rough it was last night.  She was trying to eat a dead squid which had been washed onto the decks.  Following filleting and cutting into small pieces she wolfed down both squid and flying fish.  She is getting bolder now and we are hoping that this is a sign that her strength is returning.  You should all have seen the photo now. We think she is probably a small heron and her alternative name is Charlize (t)Heron.

I’m writing this in the saloon where it’s cooler.  Bernie has hung out his washing including a towel and Edith is using it as a bimini!

Thinking of you all at home – wish you could see how blue the sea looks today and share the sunshine with us.  Just shut your eyes and imagine!