Wednesday Nov 9th On passage to Barbados 14 21.4N 33 33.6W

Today's Blog by Richard (with tongue firmly in cheek)

This cruise is proving to be every bit as enjoyable as I had hoped and expected. We have made great progress since we left Brava and little has gone wrong so far. (Why did I say that?). It has taken a long time to get to grips with how everything works on Serendipity but I’m getting there.

Everybody has their place in this crew and I know mine.

I was the one who had to walk on two occasions for twenty-five  minutes up the dark road from Porto da Praia to the town to get a cab to the airport and I’m rather glad that I had Keith/William with me. There were no street lamps, potholes everywhere and suspicious-looking people and mangy dogs lurking in the shadows. Thankfully, the heroin-charged loony who had been waving his willy at David earlier in the day was nowhere to be seen.

My place also became obvious when I was volunteered for the graveyard watch (2am until 5) for the fourth time in a row. After the first one, I rather foolishly made some comment about how much I enjoyed it (just trying to suck up to the skipper) and that was that. However, two of those watches did include sight of the only two vessels we have seen since leaving Brava, one of whom was on a collision course with us for quite a while. The rest of the crew are now extremely nervous when I go out on watch.

On the plus side, I do have my own cabin. Here is a picture of it, together with a picture of the view from my window:

It’s a nice cabin, don’t you agree? As most of the cupboards are taken up with tools etc, there is no room for my clothes so Bob kindly stores them for me in his cabin. Luckily, however, he doesn’t charge much for access when I need some clothes. I sleep in a coffin-like arrangement which you enter from the side. Luckily, no-one has tried to nail me in, like Kill Bill (my ultimate fear), but I guess there’s time if I misbehave. I have an electronic winch above my head which, when operational, sounds like a Kango hammer in my cabin. It does seem to be the case that it is automatically timed to be operated just after I have fallen asleep. I am also next to the engine room, which houses the generator as well as the engine. The operating instructions for the generator require it to be turned on whenever I have fallen into a deep sleep. Having the engine so close is obviously a huge benefit as it keeps me hot even when the outside temperature falls below 35 deg Celsius. Thankfully, the water-maker, which is also in my cabin can only be operated when the generator is on, thus eliminating a further independent source of sleep-deprivation.

I am thrilled that some of my skills have been recognised by the skipper and other  crew members. You have already read that I have a few more inches than the rest of them. Despite their jealousy, they like to watch me putting those extra inches to good use as I  risk life and limb reaching out “just that little bit further” over the side. Whilst I take some comfort from Bob hanging onto my lifejacket with one hand, I doubt he could have managed my dead weight. You have also heard about my scrubbing skills. Keith and  were far  too diligent on this as the skipper declared our efforts to be “the best I have seen” – a big mistake, I think.

Overall, though, a great adventure so far, even if we will have to pay for it (see Dr Doom’s earlier blog).

My turn to cook tonight – it’s been a very long time since I ate fish fingers. Yum, yum, can’t wait.