Where are the frickin trade winds?
Its day five on the boat and the last few days have been calmer than expected - weather wise anyway. On board though it has been anything but calm. The standard of meals continues to rise, Julian yet to cook. We had gourmet Bluewater burgers with salted potatoes on Tuesday evening (which was so popular it was boradcast over the SSB radio net to our communication group), followed by lemon chicken with home made sauce on Wednesday. The Come Dine with Me challenge has been laid down by Jess - watch this space for the next series. Lunch, we have realised though, is exactly the same each day, just presented differently. It has been so calm though, that we even sat around the table yesterday - now that is cruising! It is frustrating going so slowly in the Atlantic Ocean! Especuially when the first boat you have seen for days sails past and questions on the radio - "why are you going so slowly?" - Alright, cheeky.
We have had a few problems with the generator and bilges, which Julian addressed with positive enthusiasm and have now been sorted. So far we havent caught a single fish, scoring nil point in the communication group fishing competition, although we are holding out high hopes for the radio trivia quiz, thanks Kim.
In terms of wildlife, we have seen pods and pods of dolphins, a few birds and a really unlucky moth. The phosphorescence is amazing, and the stars are incredible out here before the moon rises - shooting star coimpetitions are a nightly activity. When working out what a shooting star is - sensible suggestions have included 'meterorites entering the earths atmosphere or burning balls of gas. But no, Julian declared they are the 'souls of our ancestors' - answers in a bottle please.
Day four was a particularly exciting day - Jess' itch factor got to nine and half so Julian cranked up the generator (oh the drama) and the girls took their first shower - not together though - that would be ridiculous - how would we all fit in the 50cm squared heads??
Other excitements include silent discos (ministry of sound chill out was the preferred soundtrack yesterday) and flash light discos with Hugos head torch. It really has been guard rail to guard rail fun, and shows no signs of stopping, as long as we can pick up the trade winds. So far we have westerly winds - which were not mentioned on the charts, tricky. We will keep on searching and let you know how we get on.