Transatlantic Passage Day 3
Petronella
Sun 13 Jan 2013 21:19
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16:25.17N 29:01.25W
13th January - Sunday at Sea
As the sun rose this morning we welcomed a
temporary addition to the crew onboard in the form of a rather forlorn and weary
egret. He landed on the aft deck for a while, circled the yacht several
times and we thought he had disappeared until we spotted him perched on the top
of the mast. Later he chose the stern rail to complete his respite before
setting off again on his long journey to land.
 The trade winds seamed to have settled in nicely
now and we are bowling along at 6 to 7 knots. If our maths is correct we have
calculated that we will roll to each wave a total of 2.25million times during
the crossing! The movement today has been quite gentle though, and Sunday at sea
was spent relaxing and reading under the cockpit bimini with only minor sail
adjustments needed. It was encouraging to see the distance to go reading on
the chart plotter drop below 2000miles . Several shoals of flying fish
were spotted today.
The other big event was the sighting of a large
ship, The Atalanta which passed by 2 to 3 miles away. This was the first ship we
had seen since leaving Mindelo. Martin spoke with the ship via VHF to hear
they were out of Casablanca bound for Brazil.
We are looking forward to another moonless night at
sea under the magnificent canopy of stars. Occasionally we pass through areas of
plankton and the fluorescence turns the yachts wake into a spectacular
green shimmering trail of light.
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