Day 19 update: Home Stretch
Well here we are, 85 miles from the finish line and in the middle of our last night at sea. The trade winds gave us a good day yesterday with 16-23knots of breeze on a straight shot to St. Lucia. Another pretty quiet day in safe mode still logging 170 miles travelled at an average of just over 7knots of boatspeed.
The big news from day 19 is that we finally caught another Dorado. Late in the day, Rigs and Rob were looking longingly at the lines and about five seconds after Rigs said "It would be really nice to catch another fish", a whopper of a Dorado hit our medium-diver rapala and leapt out of the water. Muster stations!!! Fifteen minutes later and we were looking at a 16-pound 90cm fish coloured with the most incredible emerald greens, golden yellows, silver whites, deep blacks, all speckled with royal blue dots on the tail. Just in time for dinner - the sea has been kind to us this trip and we are grateful.
We're se ing much more seaweed as we approach land, and flying fish off nearly every wave. Although more numerous they definitely seem to be smaller than their mid-ocean counterparts. We saw another large catamaran just before sunset ("Vavu U"). In general it's been great to get ahead of these big boys, but they're rolling through with ease now that we're all on the same course in the same wind near the finish.
Minds are finally being allowed to turn to activities on shore. The first thing Doug will do after we tie up to the dock is grab a hot shower and a glass of good burgundy wine. For Adrian it'll be a good stroll to stretch the legs and a gin and tonic. Rob wants a chiro/massage followed by ice cream and baileys, while Captain Rigs wants to take the garbage off and will drink whatever he is handed (likely a rum and coke)! Good news is Commander Juliet has now arrived in St. Lucia and will be joining the boat before sunset.
Breeze for our last day is forecasted to be 18-24 knots. Well be crossing the finish line likely around 6pm Friday December 9th...stay tuned.......
From the crew of Chance Encounter
Rob, Rigs, Doug, Adrian