Drenched â€�" I started my morning watch with a wave in the face from Neptune. The water and the air are warm enough that I do not need to change but my braids are dripping and all my clothes are sticking to me. Now to consider Cuba just 10 miles ahead. Karl commented as he goes below “look out for Cuban gunships”. When I zoom in on the maps, I see we are entering Cuban Air Defense Identification Area. I ask Karl to figure that out while I steer. No clear answer so we continue. The Windward Passage we have reached is between Haiti and Cuba with traffic lanes. Another chance to feel like a wide-eyed deer at the edge of divided highway with the global economy moving past. I dodge tankers, and cargos ships. Like a deer I rest in the middle to let traffic clear including a brightly lit Disney Cruise ship and scamper along reaching the far side just as sunrise throws yellow and pink light on a towering cumulus over the southeastern coast of Cuba.

After the flat almost invisible landscape of the Bahamas these 500m high ridges are a feast for the eyes. As a geoscientist of the first question is why are they there. Scientists who study the earth love looking at patterns and trying to figure out what made them. It is planetary storytelling. I am better at cold icy places but for fun let's try. The notable thing about these mountains was they had very flat surfaces, one close to sea level, 2 other prominent ones with long cliffs. As many as 10 stairsteps notches up to the peak. What makes flat surfaces … they seem similar to the Bahama platform. Of course, from 5 miles offshore without being able to look at the rocks and with no internet I am just speculating or building a story. OK if they are beaches why are they high? One reason beaches are found up high or uplifted is if they formed when sea level was higher. Probably not the answer here. There is not enough ice on the planet to get sea level to the top these Cuban mountains. Perhaps the mountains have gone up. There are lots of active tectonics here… tectonics means earthquake and faults … we are very close to epicenter of the recent devastating Haiti Earthquake. So, my planetary storytelling is that these are uplifted beaches from all the adjusting sliding and crashing the tectonics plates do here in the Caribbean.

Sailing slow much of the day but it was good to chill although whether we arrive in Jamaica Friday or Saturday is up for grabs. Karl tried out his solar cooker again and emerged surrounded clouds of smoke from smoldering granola. The second and third batch look better. Another successful oceanographic measurement in the sink T(.8C and salinity 35.8 pps. A teaching moment for the selkie learning Celsius �" if you get soaked in 28.8 C degree water even if it is dark in the predawn you probably do not have to change.

We are now sailing wing and wing that means the wind is behind us and we have a sail out on each side. We can go fast but there is always the chance of one of those gybes (dangerous rapid swinging of the sail from one side to the other). I decided instead to figure out what the wind and the boat felt when it was just right. The wind pushes at your back. You can feel the breeze on both your hands. Much more fun to look for the perfect spot for the boat to catch the wind.

After dinner our sail change shows practice improves things. We take down the big sail (drifter and set the Genoa in it place. All is well and Karl goes to sleep… until I almost accidently gybe â€�" twice. The gybe was prevented by the long line we have tied to the boom to prevent the swimming of the sail and the metal bar (boom) across. In the dark I had not caught the wind shift and was steering on the only wind direction. The wind was now coming out the Embayment where Port au Prince is. We decide to drop tack and undo the preventer. I head up to far and end up tacking and spinning a full 360 degrees. If Karl had not yelled I would have continued and done a full 720 degrees. (a penalty in racing but not a good idea at night on a two person boat. When we get the main and genoa settle it is clear I cannot steer the course and we need to reduce sail. We drop the main and continue with just the genoa. After a slow day where one friend texted to say “are you guys moving?” we are headed towards Port Antonio at 7 knots but all this fun has cost Karl much of his critical evening nap. Day one in Jamaica will be rest.