Thar she blows!
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Wed 27 Oct 2010 21:23
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36:42.80N
012:16.09W "Thar she blows!" I yelled at about tea time
today.
"What are you croaking about?" asked Alex. "Whales!" I said, by way of explanation. "A long way off the port beam." As Alex bounded on deck, a water spout dutifully emerged from the sea about 200m astern of us and a huge fin silently curved out of the waves. There was no great smashing of flukes, so we're mystified as to what flavour of whale this beast was. Maybe a large finner. Other than that, it's been a pretty quiet day. The
wind should shortly start going round to the east, then south, then eventually
come onto the nose in about 24 hours. At some point it may also get up to above
8 knots. I certainly hope so.
At about the same time as the whale, two largish
container ships crawled across the horizon, and there's what looks to be a very
distant sail ahead of us. The mile count has crept below 300 and by morning, we
should be about half way. So far, it's been a largely uneventful journey, and I
hope it stays that way!
We had pasta with cream, tomato, cabbage and bacon
chunks for supper. It's a mysterious concoction, but a good one that raises the
spirits, and we're considering it for the long crossing in a couple of weeks'
time. Alex's 'Cruising Womens Advisor' helpfully states that a high fat intake
and a sendentary lifestyle can lead to weight gain. This is the same tome that
recommends surgical intervention to keep the cruising woman's skin in top
condition despite all the sun. Hmmmm...
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