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17 03.92 N 036 00.26 W
Mileage noon to noon :140 nm
Distance to go: 1447 nm
Photo: Garry with the "catch of the day", a little
flying fish
Well, here we are in the middle of the Atlantic
Ocean, and you might wonder about what there is to see out here. Of course
there is the infinite variety of waves, and they are fun to watch out here
because they are so big and they come up behind the boat, lift it up and then
continue on under the boat, taking us with it in a schussing movement - kind of
like skiing downhill, not straight downhill, but angled to the side of the hill
a little. Some of the waves look like they are coming aboard, but only a
couple actually have dumped water into the cockpit, and those were waves that
slapped against the side of the boat and then sprayed us.
There are also, of course, the clouds to look at, and
those are interesting from a weather standpoint. Often we can tell what
kind of weather we are likely to have from the way the clouds form.
We have seen 3 freighters out here. We keep a
watch in the cockpit 24 hours a day. The temptation, after days of seeing
no ships, is to get lax; but then a fast-moving freighter looms on the horizon
and we realize that we need to maintain vigilance. We talked to the
captain of one of the freighters and asked him if he could see us on his radar
screen. He could. It's reassuring to know that the signal we are sending
is strong enough to be picked up by other vessels.
When we were closer to the African coast, we had a
large pod of dolphins playing around the boat. They stayed with us for an
hour and were great entertainment for us. We have not seen any this far
away from land. Some boats that are crossing have seen whales,
particularly around the Cape Verde Islands, but we have not seen any.
Most mornings when we go up on deck, there are flying
fish of all sizes on the deck. The largest has been about 10 inches long
and the smallest is the size of a big mosquito. The other night, one flew
into the cockpit and hit Tom. It was a minute or two before he realized
what it was. People on the radio net have asked for recipes for flying
fish, but nobody has come up with one yet. I think the flying fish in
Barbados must be larger than the ones we've seen, because I have seen it on the
menu in restaurants there. We also have the occasional squid appear on
deck. By the time we find these fish in the morning, they seem pretty
stiff and like nothing I'd want to cook, let alone eat.
The last few days, we have not seen any sea
birds, and the sky seems quite barren without them. We do see the fish we
catch, and we have our line out right now, but no nibbles yet.
We have met the cold front. Last night we went
through 4 rain squalls between 3 am and 8 am, with enough rain to rinse all the
salt off the boat, and wind gusts to 35 knots. Garry was on watch and we
helped, but he handled it all very well.
All's well on board-
Tom, Peg and Garry
s/v Starboard Home
