Well Rod will win the pre voyage ‘book’ for the days of our crossing, he was bang on the nose with his estimate with 18….Stephen voted for 19 and half days (I’m glad he’s wrong) and us girls were far too ambitious of the Trade wind strength and thought anything from15 to 16 days…..
So here we are exactly 60 miles to go…no land in sight as promised but lots of fluffy clouds on the horizon which probably indicate land ahead. It is a strange feeling, we all had a bit of a mad moment as the mix of excited anticipation that it is going to finally end but sadness that it is going to be over becomes ever more real….how can it be that you can have such two powerful conflicting feelings at the same time.
The final leg of the passage is slow with 13 knots of wind and about 5 knots of boat speed. We are doing nothing to speed up though as there is a thought that if we can eke it out we can arrive early morning and anchor off the beach after crossing the finishing line then go for a dip before heading in to the Rodney bay marina and all that brings…..It would be so nice after having dipped our toes over the stern into the Ocean but not actually been brave enough to take the plunge because of sea state or fear of monsters and deep sea nasties lurking. I also have a bit of a fear of being sucked up into a razzmatazz once we get to the marina and that we won’t get to have some sunshine, beach and sea time….anyway we will also deserve and need a lovely cooling off in the sea.
Our auto pilot and chart plotter has been throwing a hissy fit which is getting worse over the last few days. It has been loosing satellite GPS connection so then it cannot steer properly, it sends out an alarm but I notice the speed that which we jump too and sort it is certainly slowed as we near the end….a few other instruments have gone AWOL too so we will have to find someone to come and fix that at a later date.
This morning I set too cleaning out cupboards and drawers in galley. We have also used our emergency water for scrubbing out the cockpit so all the grime and salt of 3 weeks at sea has been washed away. Various other important jobs of making the boat ‘ship shape’ for our arrival have also been completed by the crew….she is looking pretty smart and ready to make her entrance
Lucy is definitely a convertee to my end of sail curry (aka manky curry)…..we had a great spicey lunch and all the trimmings. Goodness we have had some fabulous meals over the journey, in fact every one has been a treat of creativity and taste. We also had a very English breakfast this morning of fresh bread made by Freyja, with homemade marmalade, also Blackberry and Apple jam (made by my neighbour Wendy…thanks Wendy!, delicious). Healthy breakfasts didn’t get a chance this morning as we devoured the whole loaf.
We have all found our spot today to read & do our own thing…..it is a very gentle motion, the sun is shining….the mood is quiet, it is all rather lovely and gentle…It feels that ‘Bimble’ knows how to rock us kindly. I am sure we will partake of a last boat sundowner of G&T on the trampoline this evening as the sun dips and sets over our last and final night….we thought it would be last night but then as with so many things in life 'all best laid plans’…and all that.
So I don’t know if this log has been interesting or not but it is a snapshot of our journey of the five of us on board ‘Bimble’, it has been a pleasure to write and will serve as a good and true record of some of our experiences….If I don’t get caught in too much razzmatazz in Rodney Bay I will do a further land fall log…….
Have fun whatever you are doing and wherever you are. Take care.
Much love and Best wishes
Nina and all on Bimble
Postscript from writing this at 18.00 local time….We have had some big and active squall activity so all hands, reefing…..the rain was biblical.I had to include the photo of Stephen helming in full Ocean fouls and Lucy getting chilled by the rain still in her bikini!!…..There are more squalls around so it might be a lively night…but it will keep us busy...
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