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American Spirit II - Day 467; We Sail by Puerto Rico, Cross the Mona Passage, Talk to Some Ships & Have the Domincan Republic on our Port Beam; Saturday, April 18, 2015



I found out telephonically that our Yellow Brick tracker still has the boat in the BVI. Not true. We'll be off Cuba Monday evening; and in Key West by Friday, April 24. Stay tuned. Hopefully the tracker issue will be resolved Monday when the folks in the UK get back to work.

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One year ago today:

"Day 105; Car Rental, Good Friday Services and Bali Hai Hotel Party; Friday, April 18, 2014. Up at 4:48 AM. Saw a cruise ship all lit up crossing from west to east towards Tahiti. Went back to bed and got up at 7:12 AM. Went to the Mobil gas station 100 yards from us in search of eggs and bread. No luck. Returned with 3 glorious French pastries, though."

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At 3:00 AM we rolled up the jib and jibed the mainsail from starboard tack to port tack;and left the pole up in case I need to put it back up in the morning when Joel is sleeping off watch. The engine is set to 1,400 RPM's. We don't want to go wing-on-wing during Darlene's watch because she's not as familiar with the auto pilot shutting off issues as Joel and I are. Plus we need to charge the batteries anyway.

At 3:10 AM a ship called us and asked if we were holding course. Joel responded that we were, and the person calling us said that he was going to cross behind us. I showed Darlene how to read the range light on the approaching ship. There are two large, white range lights on ships; with the front light lower than the rear one. If both lights are lined up one over the other, the ship is on a collision course with you. Not a good thing to see. This particular ship had its front and lower range light to the left of the rear and higher range light, meaning it was crossing us right to left and showing us its port side. A short while later we could see the red, port light. I then went back to bed.

I relieved Darlene at 6:00 AM and at 6:19 AM the sun rose up from the horizon unobstructed by clouds. There were clouds on the horizon so the sun rising without being impeded by the clouds was not expected by me. As a result I saw the upper limb clearly, by less than a second after it became visible, so I missed a good opportunity to see my 6th sunrise green flash. Bummer.

At 7:01 AM the wind is 15 knots and we're motor sailing with the mainsail at 5.7 knots thru the water and 6.6 knots over the land.

By 7:35 AM we're almost past the western end of Puerto Rico. We're 32 miles from the coastline. The eastern coast of the Dominican Republic is 65 miles away. We'll be there in about 10 hours or around 5:30 PM.

Puerto Rico is 95 miles long and Hispaniola, which includes the Dominican Republic and Haiti, is over 300 miles long along its northern perimeter. We're currently in water 15,000 feet deep and will be entering an area today that is 24,000 feet deep, some of the deepest waters we've been in in this entire circumnavigation.

At 7:58 AM rain is falling in front of us and a small rainbow is visible port side, just forward of the beam. The colors left to right are purple, light green and blue. Its a very short rainbow that disappears 10 degrees into a cloud. On a scale of 10, its a 1.

At 8:00 AM the wind is 4 knots and we're motor sailing at 6.3 knots thru the water and 6.4 knots over the land.

At 8:12 AM a heavy rain shower drives me out of the cockpit to the top of the companionway leading below to the main cabin.

At 8:58 AM the wind is 9 knots and we're motor sailing at 5.5 knots thru the water and 6.3 knots over the land. Its partly cloudy, mostly sunny; with rain showers on the starboard beam. The rain has stopped falling on the boat.

At 10:28 AM we're in the Mona Passage, given that name because there is an island in the middle of the passage named 'Isla Mona.' Go figure. The Mona Passage is familiar to me even though I've never been by or in it before because a book called 'At the Mercy of the Sea,' written by John Kretscher, dealt with 3 sailboats that were caught by Hurricane Lenny, the 'wrong way' hurricane; resulting in the sinking and death of most of the occupants in those 3 sail boats. Obviously its a tragedy, and the author's writes a story concerning each boat and how they ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you haven't read it, I'd recommended it. One of my take away's in reading the book is that what seemed at the time like small or insignificant decisions can have catastrophic results. Like death.

At 10:55 AM Joel and I are having a discussion in the cockpit about where to anchor Friday night, May 1 before we arrive back at BCYC Saturday, May 2nd at 12 noon; about our last dinner on the boat, what the menu will be; and some other topics that are Top Secret so I can't reveal them at this time. We're planning on anchoring either off the Don Cesar on the gulf side if the wind and weather permits; or in Pass-a-Grille channel by Shell Key.

At 10:57 AM the wind is 8 knots and we're motor sailing at 5.7 knots thru the water and 5.9 knots over the land. Its a sunny, beautiful day now.

At 10:59 AM a 853 foot cargo ship called the Seaspan Dalian and heading to Lisbon, Portugal is 8.3 miles away. The ship will cross in front of us shortly heading left to right.

For breakfast we have bacon, 3 eggs, potato and chilled, sliced pineapple. Darlene has a piece of multi grain bread with mayonnaise and bacon on it.

While during dishes after breakfast, Darlene notices that the water is a little discolored. Joel, 'The Fixer,' investigates and determines that we have a little algae growing in our 5 gallon hot water heater tank. We'll flush it out with water and chlorine when we get home. Not a big deal. The water discoloration disappears as Darlene uses more hot water to do the dishes.

At 11:16 AM the Seaspan Dalian crosses our bow 2.3 miles in front of us.

At 11:33 AM we take the whisker pole down.

Our noon position is 19 degrees, 11 minutes North; 67 degrees, 389 minutes West; and we're 853 miles from Key West. We traveled 150 nautical miles from noon yesterday at an average speed of 6.3 knots. Not bad.

From 12:13 PM to 12:56 PM I typed 1 log.

From 1:00 PM to 3:05 PM I take a nap. Darlene went down to nap during my nap, also.

At 3:10 PM Darlene and I have cheese and Ritz crackers in the cockpit while Joel is napping from 3:20 PM to 4:35 PM.

At 3:44 PM an 801 foot tanker named the NS Captain on the way to Freeport in the Bahamas is 8.3 miles from us, heading left to right. It has a CPA (Closest Point of Approach) of 267 feet. Meaning, we're on a collision course. I call the tanker on VHF channel 16 and the ship responds by turning right a few degrees and will pass under our stern within the hour. Another AIS contact, the Signet Titan, a 135 foot tug boat with a tow, is heading to Puerto Plata. It will not come close to us so its not a concern.

At 4:14 PM the wind is 8 knots and we're motor sailing at 5.4 knots thru the water and 5.3 knots over the land.

At 4:15 PM we pass in front of the NS Captain, 2.5 miles away on our port beam. At 4:30 PM the ship passes astern of us 1.27 miles away. We prefer that ships pass by us at least 2 miles away; and any ship passing under a mile from us is not comfortable.

At 5:07 PM Hispaniola is on our port beam. We're now past the Mona Passage.

Dinner is at 6:10 PM and consists of left over chicken, left over spinach, bacon burgers, 1 hot dog, homemade French fries and garlic bread. The last of our garlic bread.

At 6:51 PM the sun sets. It a bright red orb, falling down out of a bank of clouds just above the horizon. Our bow is pointed at the sun. There is no green flash due to moisture in the atmosphone. The air isn't pure or clean enough to see a green flash; but its a pretty sunset nevertheless.

At 6:52 PM the wind is 12 knots and we're motor sailing at 6.0 knots thru the water and 6.6 knots over the land.

I nap from 7:30 PM to 8:45 PM while Joel is on watch. Darlene is down below sleeping, also.

At 8:54 PM the wind is 11 knots and we're motor sailing at 6.0 knots thru the water and 6.7 knots over the land. Its cloudy with some stars visible; and warm. The waves are 1-2 feet. Pleasant.

I just finished reading a book by David Baldacci called 'Hour Game.' A good murder mystery book.

At 11:17 PM the wind is 12 knots and we're sailing at 5.9 knots thru the water and 7.0 knots over the land. Its really, really dark out. The sky is also full of stars now and few clouds.

At 11:37 PM I see the Southern Cross just aft of the port beam. The bottom of the constellation is 5 degrees above the horizon. Before we get to Key West it will no longer be possible to see this constellation. The Southern Cross is like our Big Dinner, in that it marks due south like Polaris in the Big Dipper marks due north.

Joel relieves me at midnight.

Brian Fox




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