Amokura - Log Day 12 - Anticipating our arrival

Dolphins! This cry woke me from my afternoon nap. Rushing to the bow, I could see the sleek grey shapes slicing through the water, playing alongside for a few minutes then speeding away. This was a significant event as we haven't seen a lot of wildlife during the crossing, apart from flying fish and a couple of seabirds, I'm sure that will change as land approaches.

Our thoughts now turn more and more to arrival, which should be sometime tomorrow evening. Speed and distance calculations have been worked and reworked, and we think that we need to average 5.7 knts to get in at 1900 local time  6 knts by 1700 local time. We are currently working off ship's time, still set to GMT, so will need to adjust clocks back by 4 hrs. We can almost smell that rum punch! In anticipation of arrival, ice cubes have been made ready in the freezer, and the fridge has been stocked up with beer. We've done really well from a provisioning point of view. The last fresh orange was consumed yesterday, but we still have potatoes, onions, carrots andcabbage remaining. The can locker is being plundered now, but actually we have so much food on board we could probably turn round and sail back!
The detailed charts for the Caribbean have also been uploaded onto the chart plotter and waypoints plotted all the way to the marina at Port Louis.

We set the parasail up in the afternoon as the wind had eased sufficiently. This we flew successfully all night, making some good progress, as the wind was consistent and kind to us. It was a perfect tropical night at sea, with mainly clear skies, a waxing moon and shooting stars. One to log into the memory banks. Motivatingly, we also overtook another, larger, yacht during the night and kept a further one well astern, we're expecting to see more boats over the next hours as the remaining fleet all converge on Grenada.

It's hard to imagine how we will all feel when we get there. My personal feelings are mixed as, whilst excited by the thought of arrival in the Caribbean, part of me never wants this to end, flying over this beautiful blue ocean in the sunshine, feeling at one with the rhythms of nature and avoiding the first frosts of Winter back home. I wonder how we will all adjust to crowds, traffic, noise, alcohol, and walking on dry land again! We will find out soon...

Miles run in last 24hrs: 160 nm
Average speed: 6.66kts
Distance to Grenada: 182 nm

Signing off..

Liz Brigstocke