Thursday 5 December Location: 15:24.042N
31:04.593W
Distance travelled per 24 hours:
Tue 3rd: 128 miles
Wed 4th: 126
Thu 5th: 121
Since leaving the Cape Verde Islands on Monday we’ve only had an average of
8 knots of wind from the NE. Monday we headed south from Mindelo in search
of wind to the latitude of the southernmost leeward of the islands, Fogo and
Brava. Tuesday we headed west towards St Lucia and on Wednesday we added a
southward heading to it. So much for the so called constant Trade
Winds! We’ve had to use the engine due to complete lack of wind for nearly
6 hrs in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Over the past two nights we’ve seen 2 enormous tankers or container ships
whose navigation lighting was not as per the rule book so it is hard to discern
in the dark the direction and size and speed of the vessel. They only
appear at night for some reason. On Monday and Tuesday there were 3 other yachts
within sight on the horizon, by Wednesday morning there was only one visible and
it disappeared down below the horizon as when the wind finally edged up,
Shelduck took off and pulled away quickly in the light air. Other than the
one large ship last night, we’ve seen no other sign of vessels for the last
24hrs.
Sightings: There is very little human or sea life! Our lone white rumped
bird which I think is a Storm Petrel, has gone but this morning there were a
pair of them instead for an hour or two. The occasional sightings of large
dark longer winged birds I think are Cory’s Shearwaters. We also had a
flying visit from a Frigate Bird. No dolphins or whales and almost
complete absence of phosphoresence/bioluminescence as we drive through the
water. It had been permanently there sparkling and flashing in our wake
all the way down the coast of Africa.
Also a few frustratingly fleeting glimpses of what we think is Comet ISON
low in the sky before dawn but we have been stymied by cloud and haze on the
horizon so we are hoping to see something more
tonight...