Wednesday 5th December
The fishing is progressing well, at last. after 5 mahi mahi last week, John caught another today, and then caught a triggerfish. I was gobsmacked by the latter. As a keen diver, I've seen these fish on reefs and rocks the world over. Seeing one over 1000 miles from land surprised me to say the least. Its skin was so tough, we were unable to gaff it, and landed it by hand.
John filletted the two fish, Ross deep fried them in chunks in batter. I steamed some rice, Louise fried it with eggs and soy sauce and the five of us had sweet and sour fish with fried rice. Susie washed up.
Dessert was tinned fruit with custard. All went well until a wave sent me, and my bowl of tinned fruit, flying across the galley into Louise. Luckily, I deposited the tinned fruit onto Louise, missing the computer.
This morning we saw our first whale. At less than 15 feet, a curved, pointed dorsal fin and the way it was clearly playing around the boat, I wad convinced it was a large dolphin at first.
John had seen stripes under its jaw, however, long pectoral fins and a white underside. A book suggested that it may have been a juvenile minke whale. Whatever it was, it was a delight, the way it played with Chelone for the best part of an hour. No photos, unfortunately: My camera was misbehaving.
Thursday 6th December.
Less than 900 miles to go. 6 days, or 12 night watches. Yup, I'm counting down the hours now. The broken sleep and boredom, on this most benign of passages is taking its toll.
The question is this. When I get to port, shower, go ashore, eat, drink and relax freely, will I still hunger to sail on? Even now I think the answer is definitely yes. I think the drudgery of the ocean passage will fade in a couple of days. By the time we fly home, John and Susie will be looking forward to a Caribbean Christmas and several months of island adventures. Louise and I will be in a cold and miserable Neath. Hmm. Seems like I may be hooked on this life.
Friday 7th December
The promised NE winds from Herb are with us. 20 knots straight behind us as we head into Barbados. John caught another Mahi mahi. A male this time. He despatched it quickly in the cockpit as Susie hid below. She's a bit squeamish about that sort of thing. Just as well too. The fountain of blood that filled the cockpit well as John cut deeply into its head was spectacular. Quite surprising for a fish.
Later we had some other wildlife encounters. John didn't kill these ones. An exhausted swallow joined us in the cockpit, and stayed all day before disappearing during the night. Then five white egrets joined us.
They circled for a while before settling on the solar panel, aft. One even stayed the night.
Ross cleaned and prepared the mahi mahi, and cooked it in batter with spices. Louise did fried potatoes and mushy peas. Good food.
The dead run, sailingwise, led to a very rolly night. When Ross called me for my second night watch, I really didn't want to get up. Nearly there now.
A lovely surprise on Saturday morning. A message from our friends Brian and Sue, aboard "Blue Bear', asking us to meet them in the Cape Verdes. As Louise and I take our first faltering steps at Ocean Sailing, they are returning from a circumnavigatîon.
Brian and Sue have been a huge inspiration to Louise and I, and we are here today, 600 miles from Barbados, partly due to the steps they took a couple of years back. Thanks so much for the message.
Meanwhile, aboard Chelone, the atmosphere is subdued. We wait. The boat sails, we eat, we do our watches, we drink, some of us sleep, but we wait. Just over 4 days left
It appears that we are now into the food snaffling stage. This, it seems, is where preferred food items from the larder are hidden away for personal use. I looked for a jar of sundried tomatoes earlier, to no avail. Gone. John says snaffling is happening! Lots of nods and knowing looks. Evidently a bag of lion bars was snaffled a day or two back.
I'm clearly too naive. I had assumed everything would be shared fairly. I can see that I'll need to start snaffling myself. Sadly, there is little left of interest. Maybe I could hide a bag of flour?
Louise made pancakes this evening. Watching Ross coat each one with jam, sugar and custard and shovel them down as fast as Louise could cook them was awesome. His face when eating dessert is something to behold.
Saturday 8th December
Yes, we're bored. It's hot and the days drag, moreso when we have to shut all vents for the tropical squally downpours. During one such deluge late this afternoon, I went up on deck and took a shower in the stream of freshwater pouring off the mainsail. Within a few minutes, I was grinning and laughing. It was odd how such simple a pleasure as a freshwater shower could feel so good. It is a must. Standing naked on the bucking deck of a sailboat in a squall in the middle of the ocean, water pouring down from the heavens. So good. So very good.
Tuesday 11th December.
More heat. More rain. More boredom. The squalls are the worst. We wait, sweltering, below decks. Louise has been unwell. She's been drinking almost nothing for the last few days since being asked how many times a day she filled her drinking bottle
(Louise - I have been filling 2x1litre water bottles but knowing how much Martin sweats compared to me, I topped up his bottle from mine, resulting in me sometimes only having about a cup full. Martin was unaware of this).
I was quite angry with her and told her to drink as much as she needs. Everyone else does. She improved very quickly, and is fine today, as we all are.
John showed us how to use a sextant a little earlier. Ross, myself, he and Louise then spent a couple of hours waiting and measuring, until we got an approximate noon sighting. My rough calculation gave us at N13 degrees 40 minutes. Not bad, the GPS put us at N 13 degrees 52 minutes. Just 12 miles out, and this the first time I'd ever done the calculation.
Around 170 miles to go. Just one night watch left. Can't wait to get there now. We should see Barbados in the morning.
