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Athena of Southampton - Athena log 9



Athena log 9 – Tuesday December 10th 2013 – 15 18.47 N / 47 26.45 W

That Saturday was an event day.  Well yes, I know, every day has its events, but sometimes I wonder what they are.  What do we do all day?  The hours fly by.  But what do we do?

Well there’s the daily dolphin watch.  They come to play beside the boat and dance and dive and skim the surface.  Sleek blue-grey forms sliding by.  Then there are the turtles, their little heads stuck up out of the water, they carelessly drift along.  Next come the flying fish.  Like little swallows, they dart and dash over the waves, turning, twirling and diving again.  All of these shows must be watched.

But we don’t really do anything.  Well of course there are meals to be prepared, washing, cleaning and general maintenance.  Sails to be hauled out.  Sails to be rolled in.  There’s always plenty of chatting that needs attending to.  And we all have to read our books, because John wrote a blog about the books we brought.  So now we have to read them.

But we don’t really do anything.  So that Saturday was very exciting.  It was an event day.  Like most events at sea, this was caused by the weather.  Two days of quite calm conditions meant more than intended use of the engine to supplement our sails.  The result was a low fuel level and a decision to call in to the Cape Verde Islands to refuel.  The wind direction had brought us close to Cape Verde anyway, so a diversion was no great inconvenience.  As we had not expected to see land for two more weeks, this was a real bonus.

The sun was going down as we approached the islands.  It got dark quite quickly.  All six pairs of eyes strained to find green marker lights, (which didn’t exist, as it turned out).  Voices began to be raised.

“We’re not at the waymark yet”.

“To hell with the waymark”.

“Mind the rock”.

“I am minding the *#@/~&^ rock”.

“Well keep it to port”.

“You do your job and I’ll do mine”.

etc.

etc.

etc.

“Ah yes, there’s the fuel dock”.

“Well ........... easy really”.

There was a very good strategy behind the delay in getting in and docked.  You see, it was my turn to cook, that Saturday.  The roast pork was done.  The potatoes were half done, then turned off, then put back on with the pork.  The carrots were put on, then turned off because of the delay, then turned on again and the cauliflower added.  Then everything was turned off.

“We’re on shore.  Let’s go out to eat”.

OK.  But I still get a tick in my cooking box.  Ah yes, that Saturday was an event day.



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