Albatross - 13th day at sea

Dec 2 - 

All is well. We are 1,264 miles from St Lucia, and Las Palmas is 1,418 miles behind us.

There is a high pressure north of us that carries very light wind. The new strategy from the weather router is to have us head south on a 220°course until we reach the trade winds, which are about 150 miles south.

Yesterday at 8:00 pm the wind went down to 5 knots, from aft, we switched on the engine and motor-sailed until 2:00 am, sailed for two hours when the wind picked up, and then at 4:00 am went back to motor sailing. Now, at 8:00pm, we are back sailing, a heading of about 210°-220°, with 12 knots of wind coming from about 70°, and making 5-6 knots of speed. Full main, no jib.

Today we saw two boats, a sailboat going south, probably to St Lucia, and a 100 ton Cargo going north, which crossed our bow 3 miles ahead of us. It was good that we were not on a collision course, because Captain Kevin, at the wheel, insisted that according to marine law he had to give us way and alter course as he was on our port side. Something to do with our port side being red and signifying a (very small) red traffic light for the cargo.

We also discovered that in this part of the world, unlike in Lake Michigan, the difference between the true and magnetic poles is 15°. We are navigating with two iPads and the B&G instruments and could not understand why the B&G was telling us that St Lucia was 160° from us and iNavX was saying it was 145°. Unable to google it we had to start reading charts and marine books and even the B&G instructions. Lolo, who is studying celestial navigation and brought her sextant for the trip, took a reading and announced we had arrived in St Lucia. Eventually we realized the situation and are sailing using B&G magnetic heading.

It has been a relaxed and easy day, we did some reading and writing and James cooked his famous bow-pasta puttanesca with manzanilla olives. (Note to Meaghan, do you realize what a jewell of a husband you have?).

This morning we fished our third Mahi-Mahi. Billy reeled it in. Now the excitement is wearing out and we are hoping for some variety. What about a tuna?

For dinner we had the Mahi-Mahi with spinach, pine nuts, and raisins and a side of papas arrugadas con mojo.

We have not seen a lot of marine life, although at night we are always approached by dolphins, which we hear splashing and breathing, but can barely see.