Day three....'The Big Blue Yonder'!
Chelone's travels.....
John and Susie Blair.
Sat 24 Nov 2012 13:32
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N26:11.50 W017:15.16
Blimey, day three already?, slow down!! I like the
ocean crossing...the sea is only now that really lovely azure colour and we can
feel a definate hike in the temperature and the sun's intensity. As I write it's
a balmy 75 degrees here at 11pm with an hour to go of my two hour watch. After
some very dark nights last week it's lovely to once again have the company of
the moon, waxing Gibbous it lights our decks and the surrounding sea in it's
unique way though not so bright to blot out the stars. On my evening watch the
constellations of Orion and Gemini are at high altitude but on my next watch
they're setting into the oncoming signs of dawn on the Eastern
horizon.
We've sighted Risso's Dolphins and a Flying fish and had the company
of many Spotted Dolphins under Chelone's bow earlier today, Susie was
convinced they were trying to communicate with her as they were weaving and
turning upside down to look at us. We've had our fishing line out, last night
something was having a go at it and when i wound it in there was a large Squid
tentacle attached so mystery solved! Later on at first light Ross and I ran on
deck together as the sound of the reels ratchet woke us both, Martin was winding
hard on what was obviously a big catch, Ross grabbed the eight foot long Gaff
ready and I grabbed the big knife and my camera. Next, the fish took off at a
tangent and the line went slack....it was gone....along with the second of our
expensive Rapala lures! Hey-ho, that's fishing for ya! Susie says its the
typical cliche "I swear it was this BIG".....
On leaving Puerto Calero on Thursday morning we had a very pleasant sail
close to the shores of Eastern Lanzarote with the sun eventually setting
over the last views of her volcanic landscape by late afternoon and all that was
left to see was the small coastal villages tucked away in coves with their amber
lights twinkling looking almost like a cosy christmas picture. Continuing
on our passage away to the South West and clear of the Canary Islands the
wind eventually dropped away and Chelone's engine was once again employed
in order to assist her sails in maintaining progress.
8.30pm and we had our first listen out for 'Herb' Heidelburg the ledgendary
Canadian weather router for boaties in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Over
5000 miles away our trusty SSB radio receives his transmission and we
also hear up to around 20 others receive their routeing advice before we
had our own chat with him. A brief exchange of facts, I give our present
position, course, speed, wind, weather and destination, and he delivers a
concise explaination of the weather situation and offers advice as to which
way best to go to make best of the expected conditions. Last evening he advised
that we continue on our South Westerly course and again tonight the same as he
explained that a deepening depression tracking past Madiera and on towards the
Canary Islands will likely carry hurricane force winds to the area! I'm sure
that'll rattle the 250+ ARC participants currently poised in Las Palmas ready
for the big push to St.Lucia on Sunday, it'll be interesting to see what happens
there.
TTFN JB. |