05/07/08

Hello,

I’m sorry we have not reported earlier but we had a very lively start to our trip home.  We set off in big lumpy seas left by some previous wind and quickly settled into a strong south westerly rising to a regular 20 to 22 knots (top end of force 5) with squally periods of force 6 or 7.  My 3 weeks in port had destroyed my sea legs so I had to put up with ‘Mal de Mere’.  Unfortunately this has left me with an upset stomach that refuses to settle so I haven’t felt like sitting below typing the blog.  Fortunately Paul is unaffected by the motion of the sea so he has kept things going and made life easier for me than it would have been on my own.

In the first two days we did 157 and 131 miles respectively then the wind disappeared and we motored for 12 hours.  We are now sailing again but only making 3½ to 4 knots on a pleasant sunny day although the air is cooler already and we have discarded our shorts. 

We have seen more wild life, Paul saw a whale blow and I watched a turtle swim by, he was about 2 feet across.  Also the dolphins came to play when we sailed through a school that was obviously fishing, they did not stay long and swam back to where we first met them and we could see them leaping out of the water and continue to feed.   We had a ‘giant’ squid washed aboard again; he was about 4 inches long!!  Finally what I thought was a bit of plastic floating in the water turned out to be a Portuguese man-o-war.  The first I have ever seen but it was obvious what it was when it got closer.

Paul seems to be enjoying things although I have not been the best of company but we are settling into a bit of a routine.

Poppa/Dad/Roger and Paul