I can hardly believe our luck! We’ve had champagne sailing for the last few days. Aqualuna has settled down into her groove and is joyously dashing along under a blue, blue sky with a spicy force 4-5 filling the twins. She’s rocking and rolling merrily along with the following seas. It’s wall-to-wall sunshine out here with the bluest ocean imaginable.
However, it is the night time that is truly spectacular. We have been lucky enough to have a full moon for the last few days and she is shining fit to burst her buttons and making the night watches truly spectacular.
We are looking forward to arriving in Grenada - and ever so slightly envious that those speedy speed merchants who’ve been leading the pack all the way are (unbelievably) due in tomorrow whilst we still have a few days to run. However, I am also thankful that we have some more time out here in this watery wilderness. I am loving the time we’ve been given to live in the moment and I’m glad to be alive out here. So for now we are making the most of this incredible experience.
To celebrate, I’ve spent my night watch writing a poem to try and capture the moon:
Midnight Sun
The moon is slowly rising
Firstly peeping through the clouds
Until with waxing confidence
She soars into the sky
A disc of light, intense and bright
I’m awestruck once again
As she flares the empty ocean
For on land it’s not the same
Blazing bright above us
To illuminate the sea
She’s not Diana’s crescent bow
Out here she’s Neptune’s sphere
In full and rounded glory
She is not a hunter’s toy
Instead she is a sailors’ moon
That drifts the inky sky
Through watches in the dead of night
She lights the way ahead
And highlights lurking thundery squalls
And other Devil’s work
She shines a path across the sea
That bonds her to our stern
For in the warm Atlantic night
She’s the sailors’ midnight sun