Albatross - Dec 7 - 18th Day at Sea

Dec 7 - 18th Day at Sea

All is well. We are 655 miles from St Lucia, and Las Palmas is 2,344 miles behind us.

We have been in the trade winds for a few days now, which this year are fairly mild. True wind ranges from 10-14 knots, from 90°-120°, and our heading is 277°. With the wind from the back, and one knot of favorable swell, we can sail 120-140 nautical miles a day, which is quite nice. From aft, a 10-14 knots true wind is equivalent to 5-10 knots apparent, which puts very little pressure on the rig and makes the boat very easy to handle.

As we get closer to the Caribbean, the one downside is that is gets hot and humid and somewhat stuffy on the boat. It's not easy to sleep with the heat.

Today we saw three boats around us, two were cargos and one, Sakari, was a sailboat.

Sailing at night continuous to be fairly nice, the sky is full of stars and if it's not cloudy steering the boat is quite easy.

A large bird flew over the boat today, and in the evening 6-7 dolphins followed us for a few minutes. But the flying fish did not visit us today (unless a plate of cooked Mahi flying to the floor on its way to the table qualifies).

We did not manage to catch any fish and had to eat the Mahi from yesterday. A day old fish is quite beyond the freshness standards of Albatross, but expertly cooked by James (breaded with salt, pepper, garlic, and parsley on top of some Linguine pasta) was still delicious. We no longer have fresh fruit, and had to content ourselves with dates for dessert. We are also running low on cereals. It appears that some crew members are eating them for meals other than breakfast.

We performed our diesel calculation and have enough diesel left to motor 400 miles at 1,000 rpm, at a speed of 4.5-5 knots. Luckily, being in the trade winds, we should not need the diesel other than to charge batteries, otherwise we would need to start looking for boats that want to bargain fresh fish for diesel!

As we travel west is gets dark later. Las Palmas and St Lucia are 4 time zones away, but we are still running the boat in Las Palmas time, which is the same time that GMT. It's just more practical as weather reports, wind grids, and other communications always refer to GMT. Our ETA is still Dec 13 in the morning. But, wait, is that Las Palmas morning or St Lucia morning? I am confused now!