Day 11 gone and on the donk continuing towards Flores, Azores 39:14N 035:39W

Ticketeeboo
Sue & Alan
Tue 27 May 2014 15:04
Start of day 12 Noon on Tuesday 27th May 2014.
In position 39º14'N 035º39W COG 085(T) SOG 6.0kn On donk. Wind SW F6. 3m seas. Mostly overcast and wet - just clearing-up!
Flores, Azores is 087(T) 208NM Dist Run by log in last 24 hours 133NM Distance made good towards Flores 133NM.
ETA Porto das Lajes, Flores is early morning on Thursday 29th.

Early edition - 0200 hrs (in the dark)
Not moaning. Still on donk!!! Highlights for yesterday afternoon included: (i) Using a 5 year old Water Witch electronic level sensor to attempt unsatisfactory temporary repair on our 'disgustingly unreliable' Whale aft heads grey water tank pump electronic level sensor. (ii) Then repairing our Whale for'd heads grey water tank Whale electronic level sensor. (iii) Catching yellow-fin tuna in late afternoon (iv) Making contact and chatting with s/y Hobnob (Nettuna, Rome - 2,300NM away) and s/y Quest (Finike, Turkiye - 3,200 NM away) on SSN HF radio at 02:00 this morning (all clever stuff these radios).
Must mention the tuna....... earlier in the day I found the whole reel had run out....... "Must have fishie on end" me thinks. Gets line half way in and it gets away. Squiddy skirt now even shorter! Then another bite, reel goes "wizz" then gone (again)........ then finally, at around 18:00 me looks at rod, all reel is out again........ and this time I land another tuna. A 4½kg yellow-fin tuna. Beautiful fish. Didn't blow it's brains out so didn't make a mess all over crew. I gave it a gentle 'donk on the 'ed and it looked deaded. When weighing it though, it came alive again so Mike steps in saying "This is how you do it!" and proceeds to give it not one, but two additional donk's on the head using the winch handle. Despite our attention it's still alive. Hence more donks with winch handle by Mike and one last thud with lump hammer by me.......... then it's de-headed, de-scaled and de-gutted. Mike assures me the yellow-fin tuna is much tastier than the blue-fin tuna we caught already.
So it'll be yellow fin tuna for next din-dinz! The rest is in the freezer for My Lover to enjoy with me!!!!!! (Joke - because we're sure to eat plenty tuna before Sue joins me).
Later edition - before noon deadline (in the light):
Stop the front page........... My Lover, who is a very nice lady, has kindly sent us the following information, which I can share........
"Apparently there is not a lot of habitation on Flores. Most people visit to walk and enjoy the Flora and Fauna. It is only 10 miles long and very mountainous which means you should be able to see it from a distance. It is often cut off by the weather. It was a notorious hide out for pirates waiting to raid Spanish Galleons on their return to Europe. There is a famous poem by Tennyson called Revenge which immortalises a battle that took place between an English ship, Revenge, in 1591 and a fleet of Spanish ships. There is a museum in the capital Santa Cruz housed in a Franciscan Convent that you may like to visit. The Southern part of the Island is the most scenic. So now you know." Good eh?

Tuna on menu today. Sue have a great afternoon with F & S and hope weather clears up for tennis match xxx