Another huge milestone … at midnight we crossed the equator! We were all up on deck to experience the moment. I had prepared an equator cake (in honour of Neptune), the fizz was on ice and camera at the ready as we saw the latitude move to 00.00.00 S … We toasted Neptune, Mistral and all who sail in her … we are officially upside down!
This excitement was preceded by the Super Bowl. Unbelievably, Starlink is so good, we can watch the TV in the middle of the ocean. Chris is a big fan and had agreed to keep the HF radio open so he could relay results to Arc friends who are without internet … hard to describe how weird this seems!
We still have no wind and there have been no more fish either. We were thrilled when a red footed booby came and joined the boat last night - he sat on the pulpit (the ‘titanic’ rail at the front of the boat). He was joined by a mate and then another and many more. As a result, my night watch was ethereal … the sea was a glassy mill pond, the sky was blanketed in stars, the moon reflected brightly onto Mistral and the birds circled around the rigging - dipping in and out of the moonlight. Gorgeous. Imagine my horror when I came up for my 7am watch and found the dawn broken, birds gone and the boat covered in poo … oh no! Foul smell and shit everywhere. The boobies have immediately gone from being friends to enemy number 1. I spent more than 2 hours cleaning up and we have been thinking up strategies to keep the boobies at bay. Obviously, I am shouting loudly and waving boat hooks at any bugger who comes close but honestly, the boobies are brazen and take absolutely no notice - it’s their ocean and anything in it is fair game. Next strategy was smearing vaseline all over the pulpit (great idea from Shirls!). As a temporary measure, this had some effect as the boobies slide around and fall off a few times but eventually, they move up the rigging or work it out. Another night of poo all over the boat. A new strategy required.
While writing about bird strategies, we are also preparing strategies for keeping sea lions off the boat. All this wildlife is amazing at a distance - close up, not so great. Sea lions are big and smelly and apparently, ingenious at getting onto the boats. We are going to gather all our fenders, tie them together and line them up on the transom (swimming platform on the back of the boat). All ideas welcome.
A final note on milestones … we worked out that we have completed a quarter of a circumnavigation of the world since we began our journey from Palma. We celebrated that achievement (of course!) with a shot of Canadian rum on ice … boat is feeling marginally less dry this passage … but with good cause - feeling quite proud of ourselves!
IMG_2300IMG_2301IMG_4841