Almost there
09 August 2011 | North Atlantic Ocean
Nicola
Nearly there! We have been at sea now for 12 days now and are really looking forward to getting to Scarborough, Tobago. The first 2 days out of Natal we had some wild weather with big seas, high winds and a current moving us along at about 3.5 knots! Our best run on one day was 190 miles! At the moment we have 3 knots of wind and are baking in the 40 degree heat. We have caught some fish - the best being what easily must have been a 25kg dorado! We have already had 6 meals from it! The girls have been great and continue to entertain themselves - from singing and dress up shows, playmobil days (one day they played from 6am till it was time to set the table for dinner!) they draw and Zoe reads a lot. We still do school everyday - but only a bit as its just too hot. On our 3rd day when the weather had settled we hoisted the genniker. When it came time to get it down the rope at the top of the sock got twisted and we could not get it down in the 16 knot wind. Leon pulled on the rope (kevlar rope) so hard that he sustained 3rd degree burns to his finger. A piece of skin came right off. So its burn dressings everyday and a big bandage over his left hand to keep it dry and clean. It will take a long time to heal - especially out here where its hot and humid. The water has been so calm - its like an oil slick. And its amazing to see the fish jumping out of the water, sometimes even wahoo - obviously being chased by bigger fish or sharks! We had a school of Pantropical Spotted dolphins play around the boat for about an hour. It was a huge school of over 1000 - they just kept coming! Zoe is looking forward to her birthday on the 20th - although she said that she did not mind if we had it at sea! This trip seems to have taken so long - probably because we left Salvador so long ago and got stuck in Natal for a week. Only 370 miles to go and we can almost smell Tobago!