St. Helena to the Caribbean - Day 8
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sun 20 Jan 2013 13:05
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04:50.335S 23:17.187W
January 20, 2013
One-Third Less.
Passage-lite. That's what's left of this passage
now that we've completed one-third of it. It feels good, but at the same
time, slightly disconcerting because the majority of the distance still appears
to be in front of us. How is this possible? Eight days in and we
still have 2,500 miles to go. But never mind that, an elephant is eaten
one bite at a time, right? Right. So, the next bite includes
the half-way mark and our fourth equator crossing, both of which should happen
sometime on Wednesday. Big plans include a celebratory lunch,
and maybe, just maybe, a second shared beer. Oooooh, the
excitement.
In other news, there's been no fish other than the four dead
flying fish found on deck this morning (again, why is it they only fly aboard at
night?). The silver lining to the no fish situation was an
uninterrupted afternoon nap for Don yesterday. The southeast wind
continues to push us along between 6 and 7 knots, resulting in just under 170
progress miles for Day 8. We are expecting this to continue for a little
longer, but as our latitude position winds down toward zero, so will
the wind. It will be a tearful good-bye the day the southeast trade winds
leave us. Hopefully their cousins to the north won't dilly dally too
long, leaving us to swelter in the doldrums. Speaking of sweltering, it's
getting warmer here as we rush toward the equator. Last night the cabin
temperature remained above 80 - a first since leaving Chagos in the Indian
Ocean last year. Sweaty gray clouds have started to make an appearance,
sweeping in and dumping a few rain showers before clearing out again.
These aren't the rain squalls we're used to though - there's no big wind,
pelting rain or lightning, just a few showers and sometimes a shift in the wind
direction. So passive, these waters. We could get used to
this.
One-third down, one passage-lite still to go.
Anne
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