I have been accused by some of the crew of being too negative in previous posts... it hasn't all been bad, I promise! And that storm last Wednesday was really rough... during mine and Josh's watch, at least. We are still catching all the squalls, while Andrew and Basil kick back in the starlight with rum and cokes and ICE, I tell you, freshly made ICE CUBES. Oh yes, and about 10 days into the trip Andrew revealed that he and Basil trot off for showers the minute their watch begins... hot, freshwater showers, none of this saltwater business... while the rest of us scrimp and save up our water rations for a shower every four days! Outrage!
Anyhow, the past few days have been very smooth sailing. Plenty of time to sit around, read, eat fine French brie, sing along to Dan's excellent reggae collection, and basically relax. It's strangely bittersweet knowing that we are coming to the end of the passage. Just before we left, there seemed to be a lot of lasts - last shower, last conversation with loved ones, last footstep on solid ground. Now we are at the other end there seem to be constant landmarks and moments to celebrate. We had not one but two days where we covered over 200 miles; and our distance to way point just dipped below 300 miles, so we had a bottle of cava to celebrate. Lucky we bought a few bottles before we left the Canaries because we also celebrated 2000 miles, 1000, 750, 500, 400, and are now looking forward to the 200-mile mark... champagne breakfast, anyone?
We are still eating like kings, although salads are few and far between and there are a lot more meat-and-potato type meals on the menu, which makes Basil very happy - no more 'girl food'! Last night I learnt that sweet potatoes taste extremely weird when cooked in saltwater, although normal potatoes are fine; and today Josh made amazing pizzas for lunch. We have also been watching a few movies in the saloon. In fact, tonight's screening of Sherlock Holmes is about to begin, so I best be off. Much love to all!
- Maddy from SY Sumatra