23 November
2017 0800 Pos 25deg 06'N 023deg 11'W
We are continuing to motor on 275 degs on glassy seas. At pre dawn Jupiter sat on the night horizon its light reflecting across the water - could tell it was Jupiter because Alf has an app! No change in the sit rep since last night - nothing about, not a lot happening. Quote of the night though was, "I didn't like to poke him in case he punched me...."; I like the use of his word, 'might'! Everyone though has started dropping into deep sleep and some are better at waking up than others.
There was I sitting in the cockpit minding my own business when something flew straight under the bimini cover and missed me by a hairs breadth and flew off... it was a duck of some description probably, or a bat maybe? Very eerie though.
We downloaded the weather files at 0930 which are showing a large low pressure region coming our way giving SW headwinds along our course, of some strength. We have decided to duck a little South to avoid the worst of it so changed course to 240 degs (SW).
Today was the day that one of us was going to have a day off boat duties to accommodate a shift in watch teams, and it was me. We decided to knock the clock back one hour as St Lucia is 4 hours behind which gave me an extra hour off...how kind. Now what shall I do with that hour, indeed my day off? Er.....write blogs maybe? Fancy a run...Cinema?
We also decided to change the lure on the fishing line as other boats have caught several fish already, so as to improve an already high morale. Dave asked Alf to fetch the green squid but Alf handed him the big red one instead. Neal suggested that Alf may be colour blind but Dave seemed to disagree, "He's not colour blind, he's bloody stupid!". Morale thus heightened we did indeed catch another Dorado on said green lure but very small and again later in the evening, so we put both back. It amused Wendy no end to see the first catch dropped (contradiction in terms there me'thinks) by Dave and to see him chase the poor old fish all around the deck.
A little after dinner (Chicken curry, very good too), the wind kindly picked up a bit. We were then cracking along under a clear, moon-lit sky. Great stuff and quite warm too. By 0300 there was 18 knts of wind and we were punching into a short steep sea with full rig with occasional lightning flashes in the distance....that low is getting closer.
Hi Ho!
Charlie
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