The SSE wind of between 15 and 25 knots gave us a good sail but the day was grey and drizzly so we mostly watched ensconced within the cabin. The deck saloon layout and clear washboards give good visibility from down below and with the auto pilot working seamlessly and using the radar and AIS on the plotter, it is far more comfortable and perfectly adequate in the mostly deserted Atlantic waters. In fact, although we are on the same latitude as Porto, it is really rather cold and we even warmed the saloon with the Eberspacher diesel heater to take away the chill and damp. The sea temperature has decreased from over 25 degrees in the Caribbean to the current 14.5 so, with the grey skies and rain, it felt like a typical day of sailing on the south coast – and we have chosen to return to this…….? Thankfully, Hejira has a lot to mitigate the weather blues and closed up down below, creaming steadily along at 6 knots, we all enjoyed watching the ‘Green Mile’ on DVD and this passed a very pleasant 3 hours. Our meal of chicken, prawns and rice may not have been ‘haute cuisine’ but it was very nice and rounded off a pleasant if uneventful day……………………..
Peter writes.-
During the last few hours, Barry & I saw a large pod of dolphins, with accompanying Brown Boobys. The other wild-life experienced, which I would ask you to be discrete about, was the sighting of a COCKROACH.
This resulted in a short hue & cry, a la Fawlty Towers ‘Rat’ episode. Apparently, at an earlier ARC briefing, they were told that all vessels could expect an infestation by virtue of bringing aboard stores in cardboard boxes, etc… Needless to say, the quarterdeck denied it could possibly have been any of the Wine boxes he is importing. ‘They are of a far superior quality’.
Whilst this was accepted, the question remained as to what the charming little brown creature was escaping from as it scurried from the state apartments. To avoid any further such questions from an enquiring crew, efforts were redoubled and a very charming little brown creature was despatched under a superior boot.
From now on, most of the crew will be directing their wild-life observations towards the rear quarters whilst the C-word has been forbidden from any I-spy matches. However, we now have a new game in which the present score is 1 – 0.
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