Crossing Edges and Traffic
25 May 2022
• (25.8n 73.3w)
by robin
Awake today with Karl calling Land Ho as the glow of Turks and Cacaois was visible on the horizon about 10 miles out. The sliver moon allowing more stars to grace the morning sky. The ocean bottom cliff we crossed coming out of the abyss was shorter (2 km) than I thought. I had looked at Marie's map and not the nautical chart with contours. The channel between the islands is 3 km deep. The cliff would have been 5 km if we had stopped at Turtle Cove as the original plan but the winds are fair for continuing to Jamaica and potentially giving us more time in the Galapagos and the Marquises â�" places it will be hard to visit again. We now know Turtle Cove is just 11 days from Nyack.
When we cross the cliff, we crossed a boundary. we left the North Atlantic tectonic plate and depending on what map you look at maybe we left the North Atlantic ocean too. Karl reports after tea today we moved far enough south the sun will be to our north until we are headed home. Crossing several edges.
Before we left was much discussion about the use of book shelf space on the boat. Jammed in between poetry sailing and knitting is a book I was sure would be useful today. A book botu Bahamian landscapes I hoped it would tell us why there are those deep channels in between the shallow coral filled regions. Of course, the book is inconclusive â�" rivers, rifts or maybe currents. Maybe later I will text my friend who is doing fieldwork in the Turks and Cacaos next week but the day flew. Sometime in science there is not a clear answer to my favorite question why.
Culinary experiments in miso continued today. We have a lot of miso and I have been mixing it in the mayonnaise for lunch. In the long time I have to dream about breakfast (my 6-hour morning watch), I first considered slipping miso into the beaten eggs for the omelet then I decided to go make a kimchee/miso omelet. The kimchi was slice cabbage and vinegar and I added some of the miso soup mix. It was greeted with a âweirdâ but I enjoyed it and without experiments you will never find something new.
The evening watch was a nail biter if you dislike traffic. I hate traffic especially at night. On our departure there was a line of 7 ships in Ambrose Channel â�" all invisible in the dense fog. We are accustomed to the long lines of cargo ships entering New York Harbor and are practiced in staying out of their way. Tonight when I took over Karl said there is a ship. We have been seeing about 1 a day. Yickes before I knew I there were 4, we were crossing their paths and we were moving really fast 8 knots. We have an electronic way of tracking these vessels and on passage when one comes within a mile we worry. The K.O. a 900' vessel heading east had a closest point of encounter of 0.02 nautical miles or 120 feet. I was stressed. Considered my option: (1) turn the boat into the wind to slow things down (head up) but that would be really rough on the sail as it flapped in the wind (2) roll up the sail so we slow down (3) give up and ask Karl to take care of it. So I thought #2 would work best but felt rusty so I woke Karl up â�" something I am loath to do. He agreed. I rolled up the sail. The ship slipped past us and by the end of my watch we were again headed toward the windward passage. Phew.
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