The first day sailing went very well although the sun and heat was relentless. We poured buckets of sea water over ourselves in hope to cool down. The sea took a ugly turn by nightfall and neither of us got much sleep.
On day 3 we crossed over 2 sea mountains. Others we had spoken to had said said they would definitely avoid them. We took a direct route which meant we went over them and couldn't tell any difference in the sea state. During the night Alison got tipped out of her bunk onto the floor but we were well past them by then....maybe there was a delayed effect...who knows?
The wind rose the next night and in the morning we noticed a tear in our mainsail. The sea was 2 meters and we decided to leave it up.
Day 7 and the wind reduced. We were doing 7 knots at the start of our journey, then 6 knots, then 5 knots and now 4 knots. We tried a bit of fishing and after about 5 minutes I caught our first ever fish. Alison cleaned it and I cooked it for supper.
The next few days/nights were a mixed bag of different wind strengths and sea conditions, until day 10 when we hit the doldrums. The sea was like rippled silk and we could see many fish in the clear water. No wind but we still moved around 3 knots with the strong current. We had a magical day...Alison had a short swim. We ate our lunch (drop scones) sat on the sugar scoop under our solar panel and watched the fish clean our hull. When night fell, the sea was lit up with flashing/pulsating lights as we travelled through a field of glowing squid/jellyfish, not sure however it was incredible. A small bird hitched a ride with us..Alison named it 'Mabel'.
The wind returned the next day, however the sea was not kind and no matter what we did with the sails, we couldn't get a comfortable ride. The day before we arrived to our destination (day 12), Alison wrote in our log..'feel like we've been in a tumble drier for 8 hours!'
On day 13 we arrive in Coconut Bay, Isle du Salut at dawn. We anchored in 6 meters using 30 meters of chain...a first for our new 'Bugle' anchor!
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