Challenger 4 - Day 12

Day 12

Sushi and I spent our first night together in the corner the other night and it was so nice to have some company watching the crew come in and out of the galley when the watches were getting up and going on deck then coming down again, they seem ever so busy. We seem to be getting along fine and she joined in the fun when I was put through some gymnastic moves on the table as usual, but this time it seemed to cause such amusement when we were doing the moves together and someone took pictures again.

Once we were left alone to our own devices we went on our own trip of discovery , we were fairly hungry and after a lot of climbing around and searching we found a stash of crisps and sweets in one of the boxes at the back of the boat. We spent a whole day in there eating lots of goodies. We must have been there a day until a young man called Daniel found us and tipped us out onto the floor - can you believe it, he just left us there until we were finally rescued before getting trodden on.

We decided to go on deck and lend a hand so we both had a go at helming. There was a big rain squall and Steve, the skipper, decided we could try and outrun it so he set the boat up and then handed the helm over to us. I didn't want to get wet just in case my trunk shrank. We managed to run away from the rain and then went back on our correct course. Sushi and I decide to play hide and seek but she didn't quite understand the rules properly. After 3 ½ hours hiding I decided something was wrong, she was supposed to be finding me and I found her hiding in the next dirade. We could have been there for ever, but I forgave her.

We found a parrot lying on the deck which looked as if it was dead and had been squashed.

I said. "Look it's a dead parrot.

Sushi said, "It's not dead it's resting."

I looked closely, " No, it's definitely dead."

She replied "It's a Norwegian red. Beautiful plumage."

"But it is definitely dead. It's shuffled off it's mortal coil and gone to join the choir invesibles, or something like that."

"No, once it's had a rest it be off-voom."

"Sushi, that parrot wouldn't voom if you put four million volts through it."

Anyway she gave it some tender loving care and the parrot came round, albeit with only one eye. We thought we would make a patch for it so he could look like a pirate parrot. So a busy day and we're almost there, only another 625 miles to go and there is a sweepstake going with the crew trying to guess the time and day we cross the finishing line. Monday seems favourite but, since then, the latest weather says the wind might be fading away so we will have to wait and see what happens. Meanwhile it's back in the corner for us for a bit of a rest after all the excitement.