Noon to Noon distance: 176nm
We found the Gulf Stream, but still have little wind, so motoring. Lots of sargassum (seaweed) in the water, sometimes so thick that we have to alter course to avoid it.
We were just sitting up enjoying the late afternoon, when the reel made it's zinging sound. Only for a short while, so we both thought it had caught some sargassum again (we had been constantly clearing the lure of the weed, and even stopped fishing for periods when the weed was thick and plentiful. P casually started to wind the line in to clear the weed when he realised that we actually had a fish on the line. And, it was a mahi. Just a little one, we didn't even bother to weigh it. No gaff required, just hauled it into the boat and dealt with it quickly and easily.
Later that night on my watch, just before midnight, I saw the lights of a ship on our stb side. I'd had a large motorboat pass us from our stern a while ago, so just thought it was that one still heading out. But then, the next time I checked, the lights seemed to be closer, not further away. I checked down below on AIS and I could see the one passing us, but it definitely was not in the same position as these lights. These lights were from a ship that was not showing on AIS! Ahh, someone going incognito! I watched as the lights got closer and then passed from our stb side across in front of us to our port side and then ran down alongside us. Not too close, but close enough for me to recognise it was a coastguard ship. Very interesting. They didn't call up on the radio at all. By the time P came up on his watch at midnight - it was well gone and we couldn't even see the lights anymore.
Even though we are motoring, I am really enjoying this passage - we are in the gulf stream in good conditions for the sea state, we are maintaining a good speed, and everything is nice and easy. We were actually able to sail from midnight to dawn, but then had to motorsail again as the winds eased.