By all former calculations, we should have been in mainland Portugal right now. Or at least in the Azores. But after staying almost 2 weeks in Bermuda, we are now somewhere in the middle between Bermuda and the Azores. At least one week left to go to Horta, and at least three weeks before we reach the mainland. Come along for the journey!

Day 25 - Tuesday June 10

We spent an hour (plus) getting the dinghy from floating vehicle to neatly stored package on deck (reminiscing how we used to be able to do this in about 10 minutes in the good old days) and sailed the boat to the fuel dock to spend an absolute fortune on Bermuda diesel ($1.99/liter). There was a complicated way to get it tax free for a third of the price, including a four hour passage, which we opted out from. Gah! After checking out with customs and getting permission from Bermuda Radio to clear out and pass through the narrow Town Gate, we were at sea again.

Even if we did not have the opportunity to see all that much of Bermuda, we left with a very good impression. Lovely friendly people, great public communications (the island is only twice as big as our Ljusterö and has 11 bus lines, most with 15 minute traffic! I could get into a LENGTHY discussion about this...). Sure, the prices were high, but we found some good deals - cheap engine belts for the watermaker and a great barber who shaved off the captain's hideously overgrown beard for just $8.

Yes, at sea! We hoisted the mainsail, only to discover a rip near the leach. On a brand new sail! As always, Captain had ideas on how to repair it, temporarily, and we spent the rest of the afternoon doing what we normally do. Fixing stuff.

Day 26 - Wednesday June 12.

Strange day. Nothing broke or needed fixing.

Day 27 - Thursday June 13.

We have NO wind and need to run the engine to get further. As it is calm onboard - the sea is almost flat - we decide to empty our full diesel jerry cans into the almost empty aft tank. We are heavy at work for hours and need to shower and clean our clothes afterwards. A days job done.

Day 28 - Friday June 14

Still no wind, still having to run the engine. Come to think of it, we have 50 liters of fuel in the forward tank - which has no connection to the rest of the tanks. But we find a way to pump it up to jerry cans and then carry them out to fill the aft tank ... We are heavy at work for hours and need to shower and clean our clothes afterwards. A days job done.

Day 29 - Saturday June 15

A very special day!

It is exactly 4 weeks since we left Brunswick!

We are exactly halfway between Brunswick and the Azores!

And it is exactly 17 years since we left our home dock to go cruising.

We celebrate by barbecuing spareribs, tied together in a neat package - with seizing wire and parchment paper (Greek method) around the rotisserie stick. They come out good.

At night, the wind picks up and we don't get much sleep.

Day 30 - Sunday June 16.

In daytime, it's more like "Finally some wind!" We get the windvane working. And call grandson Hampus, via satellite, on his birthday. Cooking in the oven today, safer in this weather.

Day 31 - Monday June 17

No wind, again. It's amazing how calm and flat the Atlantic can be! Today, we can even leave a full glass just sitting on the cockpit table for seconds without holding on to it - or without supporting ourselves. Water temperature has gone down from 27 to 23 degrees C, air temperature is still around 30C. It gets just a little cooler at night. No fish caught since before Bermuda, sea is too calm. The only wildlife we see are birds - which seems pretty awesome this many miles from land! -, occasional flying fish and lots of jellyfish called Portugisisk �-rlogsman in Swedish. I'm hoping one of our readers might find the correct English word in Wikipedia or something and put it in the comments! (I miss googling about 714 times a day!) Anyway, they are so pretty! They have a spinnaker like sail sticking out of the water, with a pink trim. Apparently they are lethal, so we stay away from swimming for the time being. Oh, and we were visited by a huge butterfly the other night! And today we saw a condensation trail from an airplane. So we are not completely alone in the world even though this wast ocean is pretty uncrowded. Celebrating with guacamole (avocado do great in the freezer!).

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