Sweet Dream - Tuesday October 22, 2019

Finger crossed that this is our last full day on passage! A very excellent day it was! We sailed wing on wing in the sunshine across sparkling blue water. At 11:30, the familiar zing ziiiiiing zing, shook us into action. There were two mahi mahis leaping on our lines. Captain started pulling in the hand line and oops! That one was off! Laura cranked away at the rod and reel, and the fish leapt and fought most beautifully. Captain gaffed it and invited it onboard for a “business lunch” with drinks and eating, and we finally had a taker! With enough rum in its gills it acquiesced to the lunch date and Captain filleted it out. We ate half of that buttery, delectable fish within ten minutes time, and carefully wrapped and laid two more big fillets against the refrigerator cold plate to keep for our first supper in port, tomorrow night. We sailed along in utter contentment, took turns napping, then at 16:00 the wind did a 50 degree shift! Just wham, just like that, suddenly even the swell was coming from the north east! We put away the staysail and the main, and carried on under the Genoa in the freshening cool north-easterner. Captain sent out eta arrival notice to our WARC folks, and we settled back to enjoy chicken pies for supper. Now, on this first shift of our last night of this crazy crossing, I see the glow of “land Ho!” Mauritius, and am very ready to be there! Sixty miles left to go! Things that needed attention this crossing: 1. The auto pilot’s loose wire (The Captain fixed that after 101 hours of hand steering marathon 2. The AIS stopped working 3. The speed over ground indicator quit 4.the anemometer quit 5. The depth gauge quit 6. The mast boot began to leak(a lot!) 7. The engine overheated 8. The genset quit 9. The light in the salon began to fancy itself a flashing disco strobe light 10. The starbrd behind settee area got wet 11. The Genoa sheets really chafed a lot. We will not be bored when we arrive in Mauritius! 12. Vhf gps 13. Radar