What Larks!
Day 3, Southbound Passage: Cape Fear to Miami
November 16th
Reading over the log, it seems like a pretty dull day. We’re finally downwind sailing with variable wind speeds. We saw lots of dolphins during the day and night. We were beyond excited to enter Florida waters and change into shorts and t-shirts. It was almost too hot!
Terry the tern joined us for a rest. Hastings tried to evict him but he snuck back on. We both deluded ourselves into believing that a possible blip at sunset was a “green flash”.
During Matt’s last night watch, Starboard Stan had an oil problem. Wait, did I say it was dull? In non-passage related items, today was our 6 month anniversary since we officially left our home dock. Also, you can tell who is writing the log but our use of capitals: Lucy is shouting out AM, and Matt is whispering am. What larks!
8AM. LW. Matt ate 5 snaps in one sitting? Is that a record? Humm. I wrote that I had 3, but really, I just ate a bunch and wrote 3. It was probably more. I mean, I wouldn’t lose count at just three, right? They are really little. Tiny. Made for borrower people, not humans! 3 little ones is like one regular size one. And ginger is a veggie. Really, people should be amazed at our commitment to health, even in the middle of the sea.
Everyone is up for the day. No one wants a nap. I think Hastings is a little dissapointed that we’re still in the ocean. Will it never end? I left the boat sailing at 7.5 knots. I awake to it floundering along at 4. What kind of stewardship is that?
We can see a “Tower Horn” on our starboard side. Yesterday afternoon, we decided to shave 40 miles off the trip by going through the “Tower Horn” area. Thankfully, they showed up really well on radar and were well charted. In the day, it looks like a huge crane structure - in the middle of the ocean! We are 50 miles offshore. Seems like a lot of effort to build these structures in the middle of the ocean. What is their purpose? We will have to find out when we get google back. (Apparently, they house equipment to monitor Navy aerial combat training exercises)
9:10AM. LW Hastings kept me company during breakfast but got into his bed for a nap. It’s a ruff life!
10:31am. MC Angry ICW boater 1: “Hey, thanks for rearranging the furniture!” Angry ICW boater 2 retorts, “If you don’t like my wake, slow down ’n I’ll give it to you again!”
11AM. LW Port Wine Cheese and crackers for elevenses. Yum! Hastings will wake up for cheese!
12:30PM. LW We’ve been underway 50 hours and are about halfway. Winds are very calm; we are trudging along at less than 4 knots. Jibed to sea. Making 3.5 knots in mostly the wrong direction makes me really think about motoring, . Hot dog lunch. See the first boat I’ve seen since the whacko tried to run me down last night - a sportfisher crossing a few miles behind us.
1:15PM. LW Wind at 3 knots, traveling at 1.5 knots, mostly in the wrong way. Turned on portside Pete. Motoring at 6 knots. Lounging on the tramps, enjoying the Florida sunshine and looking forward to 3PM tea and chocolate biscuits.
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| Ruff life! |
1:30PM LW Dolphins! 2,3,4,6,8 - mother and babies! Stayed for 15 minutes.
1:50PM LW More dolphins! We’ve both changed into shorts and t-shirts and agree the Florida sun is almost too intense.
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| Dolphins between our bows |
3:45PM LW Tea and chocolate biscuits
4:00PM LW Engine off, sails up - 4.5 knots in 8 knots of wind, running
5:25PM LW Sunset! Sunset in NC was 5:12 so we have added 13 minutes of daylight. Yay! We think we saw a little blip right at sunset and have decided to call it a green flash. Dinner of chicken pot pie (premade) topped with Pillsbury croissant roll for the pie crust. Really good!
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| Sunset at sea |
6PM LW Wing on wing. Dolphins on starboard side, tern on the tramps. The tern tried to land in the cockpit but Hastings heartily voiced his disapproval. It’s a funny thing to be such an animal farm miles from shore; Hastings barking in the middle of the ocean seemed very unexpected.
6:39pm - MC wants to make sure that the tern is in the log. His name is Terry Tern. He is resting on the starboard bow now. LW hunting for bioluminescent dolphins.
7PM. LW Dolphins in our underwater lights! So cool. These ones are the little fast ones. We’ve had a lot of bigger ones, some really big ones, and some spotted. We really need to add a whole bunch more lights so the whole length of our hulls are lit up.
8:00pm MC Matt on watch. Moonrise!
8:50pm MC Running port tack now. New waypoint off of Cape Canaveral, too far for the GPS to compute our time of arrival. Manual estimates: sometime in the late 26th century.
9:13pm MC Strange bird calls from the dark: whoo lou lou lou whoo lou lou lou. Terry Tern unimpressed.
9:16pm MC Wind is picking up but from an unfavorable direction.
9:35pm MC More dolphins. Yawn. Regular dolphins, not bioluminescent dolphins. Double yawn.
9:55pm MC Starboard Stan called into duty: cargo ship and tug converging (12 miles off, seen on AIS) and wind is keeping us in the shipping lanes for too long. Hastings and I accidentally scared Terry who flew away, but he came back.
11PM. LW on duty. Sleep is nice. Being awoken is not. The moon is up, making it perpetual dusk. Off St Augustine. I’m sure Dave Barry and a lemon drop will help me adjust, although I’m worried what I’ll do for the next 300 years.
Nov 17th
12:11AM. LW BBQ chips snack. Tern still hanging out. No dolphins. No anyone.
1:12AM. LW. Matt got up to check on the wind. Still not enough to sail (5 knots apparent). Lemon drop.
3:15AM. LW. Dave Barry is over. Now I’m just stuck with “Passage to India”. I've been listening to it for 14 hours, and I'm not sure why. I thought it would be like this log, you know, talking about a slow ocean passage. From England to India is a really long way, so I could have the company of a fellow passagemaker. But the book starts off already in India! Ginger snap.
3:59am. MC. Matt on duty. Terry still resting on the bow. Being overtaken by a tug.
6:00am MC. Strange chirping noise. Investigated. Engine oil pressure alarm chirping on and off. Shut down engine to sail, will check engine after sunrise.
7:20am MC. Hastings got up for a pee and Terry took his leave. Turns out, terns are messy house guests.
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| Terry the Tern |
7:34am MC. A large pod of dolphins has been hanging out with Inde for at least 30 minutes now.
Have you ever seen a green flash at sunset or is it all lies?
6 comments
I love reading your log, especially the entries from overnight. They bring back such memories -- moments of boredom (if your lucky) interrupted by yummy snacks!
ReplyDeleteStephanie @ SV CAMBRIA
I'm just glad I figured out snack provisioning and audiobook downloading! I agree, boredom is good!
DeleteYou have probably the most amusing logs that I've ever read. I want to live on your boat. The snacks sound amazing. Although, I'm sure I'd have to do some sort of battle with you guys over the gingersnaps.
ReplyDeleteAww, thanks! I think we'd just have to take turns baking up endless rounds of cookies. But then we wouldn't be allowed to emigrate to NZ!
DeleteDolphins makes passages so much more enjoyable. You know, I always wondered why French fries are not seen as vegetables and potatoes are... Something is not quite right there either. Although, my stomach doesn't hurt after eating mashed potatoes and it does after stuffing myself with fries. Maybe it is the mayonnaise?
ReplyDeleteAnything fried is delicious.... maybe it's just the oil that makes it wonderful going down but not so fun later? I'm sure someone has done a study on it!
DeleteDolphins are the best.... and we saw a lot on this trip!