Since being launched six months ago, Discovery Magic has done over 5000 nautical miles and we’ve nearly completed our journey across the Atlantic.

This last leg, from Bermuda to Newport, Rhode Island, just highlights the emptiness of the ocean and its shear magnitude.  Apart from a yacht that followed us out of the cut in the coral reef of Bermuda we have seen no other vessel in three and a half days.

We did see the blow from a whale, but the only creatures that have come in to view are what I believe to be Shearwater birds and Portuguese man-of-war.  The birds are mesmerising in their grace and ability to fly, wings stretched out and perfectly still just inches above the ocean, continuously swooping and rising by using the uplifts from the waves. The jellyfish have appeared from Spain, right across the Atlantic. They are like the seed pods that a child has blown from a dandelion head in the way they are scattered across the water, but now knowing of the terrible sting they can give, seeing them as a dangerous armada is very valid. But they are a phenomenal bit of design and you have to marvel at them:  they appear to be made of plastic, blue and pink, shaped as if a shrivelled balloon from some child’s party.  These translucent bubbles have a fin on top, which forms a sail to send them on their way. Unseen are the poisonous tentacles, streaming out through the ocean.

It is the first time I have come to appreciate the effects of the Gulf Stream when sailing.  As you head towards the States, but still some 250 miles off the coast you are presented with currents of hot and cold water, like swirly cream on the top of coffee – the Gulf Stream coming up from the Gulf of Mexico. The position of this very warm water is changing constantly and creates sweeps of currents, which you try to use to your advantage. 

One unseen advantage was Bill’s inspiration that we should all go swimming.  He was tempted not only by the sunshine and blue sky, but the fact that the water temperature was a sublime 32.4 degree Celsius (90F).  Can you imagine that in the Atlantic?  How delightful that swim was!   The huge depth of 4500 metres gave a majestic, a richness to the silky, deep blue, yet it had an ethereal quality at the same time. Being a true professional, Bill did some reporting and filming whilst in the water and we all had fun.  Fortunately the boat didn’t sail off without us either! (For those of you who might be concerned, we did actually always have one of us on board.)

So, with less than 100 miles to go, we are near the end of Chapter One.  As yet, the rest of the book hasn’t been written.

 Another marvel was to be had on my watch last night.  Yes I know that the stars are always there, but they never fail to evoke the emotions and on a black night they are awe-inspiring.  What I discovered was the joy of lying on the sun-bed (star-bed?) – safe, sheltered, out of the cockpit and thus away from any light pollution, with the warm southerly breeze blowing over me.  From here I could not only comfortably gaze at the vastness and beauty of the stars, but I was looking directly at the wake.  It was like sitting in front of a hearth, or a bonfire of dry sticks, billowing out white smoke, with flames of phosphorescence ignited by the propeller, scattering the sparks that danced away in to the sea.