999 miles to go. We’re half way there. :-)
Sometimes you have to go through rough times to really appreciate the pleasent tradewind sailing we’re usually enjoy. As the storm dissipated yesterday, the wind fell to a flat calm and we were struggeling with different sails to keep on going. As our batteries were low (as always) and the wind completely disappeared in the late afternoon, we started the engine and were motoring for a few hours. During the night we again had lightning all around us and were already prepared for the next squall to hit. But just as the big dark cloud was over our heads, the sky cleared up and the stars smiled down on us. Only a few minutes later the tradewind was back. We set the passat sails in the middle of the night and now continue to cruise at a pleasent speed towards our destination.
Today was probably the most beautiful day of the whole journey – blue sky with little puffy clouds, blue sea and a steady force 4-5 wind from NE. After a nice breakfast we discussed lunch and threw the fishhook. Only 10 minutes later we catched a beautiful mackerel of about four or five kilos. We had it with couscous, pumpkin, red onions and coconut milk. After that we had a nice shower and immediately afterwards (hey, we really have a lot to do !) we discovered that we’ve made half way across the Atlantic So now we’re waiting for Gui to awake from her afternoon nap to celebrate with a nice bottle of champagne we reserved for that purpose.
The kids also are quite busy creating new villages, vehicles, airplanes with LEGO. Santa Claus was really nice to them – all their wishes were fulfilled. Gui got a harpoon and new shoes and the captain got a new shirt (Mindelo style) yay !! I’ll try to send a picture from our christmas at sea, hope it’ll work.
Wind: NE 5, Sea: 5, sweel from NE, Course 270 degrees, speed: 6.1 knots. Miles to go: 992 Position: 16 12.1N and 042 40.9W