Blue Moon - day 17 blog blue moon

We entered squall zone. We’ve heard so much about it from our skipper Thalita who prepared us well for such very short lived local storms. You can spot them well during daytime and even so during night time when the moon lights up the clouds around her. When you see cloud formations afar and you can not distinguish the horizon from the clouds, it’s a squall filled with rain, wind gusts up to 40% more and without a clear wind direction - wind coming from all sides. Simplified, let’s call it a washing machine ;). When Blue Moon hits a squall we need to reef as much as possible and hold on tight. So last night’s shift was purely focused on trying to navigate the Blue Moon through a squall mining field. It’s kind of a Russian roulette, which watch team will have to deal with it first.

So lis & I kept our eyes on the squalls, prepared all ropes on the winches for reef 2 and 3 and were in high alert modus. Nothing happened. When our watch was over it looked really dark in front of us and we offered to help the next team to put in the reefs. And the next team hit jackpot. Laying down below in bed you hear a lot of noises and the boat sqeeking and sails flapping, and you’re happy you avoided it this time :) So from now every night watch will be like this: Navigating through squall mining fields and crossing fingers, it’s not on your watch ;)

The day shift started at 6 for us, no sunrise but spray rain greeted us and yet again we spotted loads of squalls around us but were luckily not to land in one. We made the best out of it, put on some nice waking up music and danced the rain away. After we did our morning tasks, like cleaning the heads, turning the little fruit that is left, etc, we were looking forward to a day nap. Tiredness is taking a toll on the body. The boat is a real sauna though, there’s major humidity and it’s very hot. Even the wind feels like a big blow dryer, so sleeping inside during the day is a challenge not to get glued to the bed.

After a well deserved nap I went outside for fresh air and wanted to take in the fishing line to get rid of the seaweed we were dragging behind us and gets entangled on the line. While Mathias was helping me, I noticed there was actually a fish on the hook, hidden behind a patch of seaweed. A little Amber Jack was caught! I already made clear to the crew that I would love to learn how to prep the fish for eating. Luckily I had 2 good teachers on board. Mathias instructed me step by step how to kill it with respect, take out the inner parts, and cut off the fins. Now it was my decision how I wanted to prepare it. The fish was too small for a full meal for the whole crew, so I decided to filet it and prepare it as a ceviche. Then Sergio was my 2nd teacher. With much patience he instructed me step by step how to filet the fish, the head peace and the cheeks included. I marinated it in lemon juice and served it as aperitivo during our dinner shift - which was a delicious Pasta Carbonara (still 90 eggs to go!)

So proud I finally learned to clean a fish and prep it for dinner. It was on my bucket list. Thanks to the crew for the support!

This night we are sailing again on a calm sea and the Blue Moon seems to glide through the water with light winds and full sails. After heavy waves, always comes a calmer much needed moment to reflect, regroup and take a breather (and a good sleep). Thankful for this ocean to teach me that everything comes and goes. After rain comes sunshine and tutto passo.

Proud hugs,
Katleen