Yesterday we had little excitement to break up the otherwise monotonous day. We have been seeing lots of flying fish throughout this crossing, and were enjoying watching them when we noticed that something was jumping up and out of the water seemingly snatching them. It was such quick movement that it was difficult to discern what we were witnessing. After gluing ourselves to the side of the cockpit and watching intently, we saw that we had come upon a huge school of tuna. They would sometimes
jump up and twist about so beautifully, as though putting on a show for us. They were greedily feeding on the flying fish. It took us a few minutes to realize, "Hey! We should get out the fishing rod!" Frank got it set up and within 5 minutes we had hooked one. I ran for the camera as he reeled it in, and while doing so he saw that we had a Blue Fin on the hook as it leaped out of the water, and then the line went slack! Well this is the third time we have sacrificed lures to Neptune's Fishdom.
By the time we got the line in and a new lure secured the frenzy has passed on. We sent it out anyway hoping for yet another chance. There were no more sightings the rest of the day, but it was a lot of fun for a few moments anyway.
Last night was another (ugh) rough night. I feel like someone glazed my eyeballs with sandpaper I got so little sleep. I am on the 9PM-12 AM, and the 4-7 AM shift. Frank takes the midnight to 4 AM shift. I am going through the eye drops! Now how on Earth does Frank sleep through jerking seas, that have us heeled over at an angle that takes superglue to stay in the berth, while the sails are whipping and lines are banging? He is not human I'm telling you right now. He is superhuman. I married
Sailboat Man. I think he has little sucker things all over his body that hold him in place at any angle - kind of like Spiderman, he can climb all over the boat while I gasp and pray as I watch him from the safety of the cockpit. Of course, he is in his harness and tether, but no less amazing.
So today as a gift from Heaven above, we have been blessed with smooth 10-16 knot winds and relatively kind seas, while we are making a speed averaging 6 knots, with a about a 1.5 knot current giving us a speed over ground (SOG) of 7.5 knots . And to make it an even bigger deal we are actually getting to sail in the right direction! No wind chasing today, knocking on teak while I write this.
I decided while we are having a relatively easy day of sailing to bake a key lime pie. Of course as soon as I turned on the oven to preheat, the waves took on a mind of their own and gave me some challenging hits to the starboard hull (the side of the galley). I got to practice extreme acrobatics and balancing skills separating egg yolks and pouring ingredients into a bowl that took to skating the countertop while I was in mid pour. The spillage wasn't enough to thwart my efforts at making that
pie! Thank goodness for gimbaled ovens. We will have a delicious key lime pie for dessert tonight.
More to come…
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