22nd February

12 20.253 N
72 22.740 W

Weather; sunny, wind 15 knots ESE, waves 5-6 feet

As the night wore on things began to calm down a little, not much, just a little. The lights of Aruba appeared, along with a string of red flashing lights - you couldn't fool us, we knew these were the lights that are on the wind turbines, the same as we came across on our way to Luperon. Next thing I spotted was a flashing light out to the Venezuelan side, the chart showed a couple of rocks and I thought it was probably the beacon for those - we were well clear of it anyway so I ignored it. When it was Gerry's turn to do the watch he seemed to attract a whole load of ships, the closest one was a good mile away from us but at night it's not always comfortable knowing that they are nearby and moving faster than you are capable of. We continued to sail with just the reefed main flying, having tried a couple of times to add a bit more sail power by letting out the Genoa and after a short period of it flapping about uselessly we furled it back away again. The wind continued to stay behind us with short swings to either side, making the decision of which side to have the main on a little difficult. We did one gybe when the wind looked to be staying on the port side but as soon as we got the main across to the starboard side and secure the wind changed its mind and went back to being behind us with small swings in either direction, we weren't playing that game and left the main out to the starboard side with the preventer in place to stop any wild swinging of the boom. At one point we even put the staysail up to see if it would do anything to stop the dreadful rocking from side to side, all it did was flap around even though it was tightly cleated off so that went away too. Although we were taking it in turns to try and get some sleep it wasn't a good night for either of us, if we managed to drop off to sleep I could guarantee that something would bang or drop and wake up whichever of us was sleeping. We had things bang that have never done so before, like the door between the salon and the companionway which is always fastened open - somehow the catch managed to come loose and there was an almighty bang as it slammed closed. Then there were the things that we hadn't thought needed stowing away like a block which managed to throw itself across the cockpit - all sent to try us I'm sure. The wind was pretty constant and it was only the swell that was really the problem. We were managing a pretty good 6.6 knots for most of the time. Once we reached the waypoint where we deviated slightly to starboard and where we changed the side that the main was on we also now had a small advantage as the swell was now also coming from behind us rather than from the side where it was competing against the wind to put us in the wrong direction. The effect was immediate, our speed picked up and we were no longer being thrown from side to side. I saw 8.3knots for a fair while which was pretty good going considering the wind speed hadn't changed and Gerry later told me that he saw over 9 knots - roaring along! of course it didn't last and somewhere around 4am Gerry started up the motor as our speed had dropped below the 6 knots that he wanted to maintain. We then motor sailed for a decent part of the day as the wind didn't pick up, we weren't complaining too much though as the swell was more bearable. Once it was light enough Gerry went out on deck and tightened up the preventer, at the same time he did the deck patrol and found we had managed to "catch" 4 small flying fish overnight which he returned to the deep. The day passed uneventfully with both of us snatching a bit of sleep when we could manage it. We even managed to finally have a shower once the swell had come around behind us, up until that point it was far too dangerous for life and limb to even attempt it, the bruise collection is growing by the day! Sunset was a little later today, we even had our dinner and cleared up afterwards before the sun dipped below the horizon. Again I watched for the green flash, I did see a greenish haze around the sun but it wasn't just as the sun was setting and it certainly wasn't a flash so I don't think that counts - the quest continues. Once more we started the night watch routine, with Gerry going below for the first sleep for a change. Not much happened for most of the night, I did see a couple of dolphins racing alongside us at one point, they certainly can move and they definitely won the race! Gerry had to start the generator a couple of times during the night just to top up our battery bank, he is suspicious that we are going to need to change out our big batteries soon - a job for him to check once we make it to Colombia. So day 2 at sea was over and done with, we are making pretty good time and progress despite the wind not quite being what we would like. More of the same tomorrow!