can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Charm - Day 6 - seaweed!



As Joe mentioned, we have now encountered seaweed. It's like confetti sprinkled all over the ocean. Occasionally we find bands of it but mostly it's clusters of 3-5 pieces.

Today, conditions were mild enough that we let the kids hang off the bow of the boat to drag in the water. They put a climbing harness on with a life jacket over it and then we tie them to a halyard and lower them until they say stop. For Marin, that's when her bottom half is under water when we're in the trough of a wave. Tully stays a bit higher and Cobin varies, depending on his mood.

In the past, the main fun has been just hanging and doing tricks in the water. But today, they collected seaweed as an added challenge. Marin was so intent on having extra time that she tried to cut Tully's turn short. Tully, who had been very happily dangling on the end of the rope, immediately asked to come up when Marin "reminded" her that the Atlantic Ocean had jellyfish and sharks in it. But she went down again when I reassured her that I hadn't seen any yet.

I did get to see a Mahi Mahi today. Kent spotted it swimming next to the boat. It was so cool- like something out of the movie Avatar. It was about a foot under water and 10 feet from the boat, keeping pace with us at 6 knots. It was blue and green and looked like it had wings. Then it, or another one, started jumping out of the water behind the boat. I thought we were going to catch it on our fishing line but no such luck. Kent says all their colors disappear when they die.

We also saw dolphins hunting again. These Atlantic dolphins seem to be far more survival-oriented than the others we've seen on our trip. Usually, when we see dolphins, they come over to visit and swim on our bow waves for 10-15 minutes. But the last few pods have ignored us in favor of food. I can't say I blame them. I would like to eat some fresh fish too!

Today, Joe and I celebrated 13 years since we started a different kind of adventure - that of married life. To celebrate, he's taking me on a cruise to St. Lucia! Tonight, he took me to his favorite spot with a great view of the Atlantic Ocean where we enjoyed the sunset(and green flash) while sipping on glasses of wine. A friendly young man brought us snacks and refilled our glasses and later played us some piano tunes.

Then Joe fell asleep on the couch while I was putting the girls to bed. And so begins another year of married life!

Signing off on another peaceful but slow night on the Atlantic.




Previous | Next