Well on wildlife watch today, I saw more leaping dolphins at insane heights, but more impressively a Manta Ray that leaped clear out of the water too (vertically) I never expected to see that! again very cool!
We are currently on our way to join Derry and Edinburgh to assist in getting DLL back to port in time. They are having gearbox issues so can sail but not motor to when there is no wind we will be taking it in turns to tow them! like the AA we are the knights of the sea!!
as promised, instalment two of todays emails although you will have been snoozing in-between me sending them!
well today has been one of firsts for me, interesting eh! Well as you know we are now motoring but if we have wind that will make us faster than the donkey (our affectionate name for our engine!) we will sail. Today we had no wind though and so our donkey needed a rest (after 20 odd ours of work I would too!) so we had to stop. This gave us an opportunity to cool off with a swim!!
so with safety ropes dragging behind the boat and the main sail down (we have that up even when the donkey is on for a bit of extra drive and stability) it was time to get wet (some had to stay on board for safety reasons but the rest of us were free to frolic in the Pacific Ocean! of course this is no swimming pool, and so before we went in the inevitable question was asked of me.... are there sharks here? My answer was a quick ... YES! but it is very unlikely that we will encounter any. Some nervous looks then Kiwi Phil just threw himself in, followed quickly by myself! its not every day you get to swim in a pool over 4000m deep 150nm off the coast of Guatemala! it was amazing, so warm, the top meter was quite green with algae, but as you dived in off the boat you cleared this into crystal clear blue ocean! epic!! It will make the local pool seem a bit dull I think!
My next first was a little more mundane but just as good for relieving a bit of heat. You may not like this too much but it was my one and only chance for a Pacific hair cut!! it is a little shorter than normal but it will be all grown back by NY! the breeze on my head is amazing and not having a sweaty wet head is a treat too! I have to thank LLoydie for the clippers and Jane for switching roles from Nurse to Barber! it took a while as the clippers did not want to cut my fine wet hair (apparently it is made of titanium my hair) but eventually I am Shaun the sheep!! It will grow back but dont be shocked if you see any blog photos with a strange beardless short haired man who looks like someone you may know (yes the beard had to go too, shows how hot it is when my ginger chin gets removed!)
Well as I am sure you know, our race is now over, called on a line off the Guatemalan coast! all a bit gutting to have it happen that way as boats like NY and Singers only got ahead by gambling on it being called at that gate and heading NORTH! this actually got them to cross the gate quicker but would give them a longer way to go if they had had to continue to the next gate! Ah well, we made tactical decisions that did not work and here we are. next time eh!xx
On brighter notes the wildlife continues to impress. A few nights ago I saw a sailfish (like a small marlin) jumping out of the water near the boat. The next morning we were visited by around 40 dolphins who were leaping around the boat and generally showing off. then just as they were leaving us another 30 of a different species showed up and the others came back too not be outdone! so we had about 70 of the things all around the boat, incredible! this has happened on a couple of occasions since too, and we have dolphin escorts for the boat most of the night now, scaring squid and flying fish onto the deck (Lucy managed to save one (fish) and threw it back last night!) The other watch also were marine medics when the boat drove over a long line fishing set as they were freeing the boat
fount a turtle caught that they released too Heroes all of them, but failed to wake the marine biologist or take pictures!!
The other day (i forgot to mention this) we sailed through a swarm of jellyfish too which was amazing and early this morning we saw a shooting star (not that uncommon for us) but this one was massive and lit up the sky like lightning as it burnt up in the atmosphere! must have been a proper meteor! cool eh!
Well we are motoring now and are still off the Guatemalan coast about 5 to 6 more days we think and it is hot hot hot, spending most of my off time trying to sleep with low success rates but hopefully will catch up a bit on mother watch, which I am just starting!
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