Any egrets as land draws nearer?

ARC Leg1 091207 1200
Positions
174 14.53N 51.41W 08:00
The rain came and went all day yesterday, accompanied by precious little wind. Cap'n Mark had an engine running to give us some distance, heat the filtered water, and charge up the batteries. We were into the late afternoon doldrums when one of the fishing reels started shrieking. Louis picked it up as I ran up to cut the engine. "The other one is also going!" Mark grabbed the second rod and started reeling it in. Louis pulled a small barracuda out of the water. The fish had been ravaged by something else. Our best two guesses are either a shark tried to get it, or the larger fish that Mark was now fighting saw the hapless 'cuda on the hook and tried to eat it. Failing that, it saw the pink squid lure on our second line an opted to settle. It took a long while for Mark to get the dorado to the boat, and nearly that much again to wrestle it up onto the deck steps. Barry reckons it was just short of one meter in length. It was cleaned by Mark with great efficiency and put into the fridge for Sunday dinner. The smaller barracuda was issued $5.00 and a bus pass and sent off with a stern talking to.



The night was far far better than the previous one, and we all slept well. At 03:30 MDT, it was my watch shift. I sighted the dim green mast light of a small boat as I went up to the helm this morning to take over the watch from Louis. Louis was watching the sea in the other direction, so I had a golden opportunity to spot a boat before he did.
"There's a boat, port side forward. It's just on the horizon," I reported.
Louis did not turn his head, "Yes, it's just in front of that party boat."
I looked back and saw the giant cruise ship for the first time. A thousand lights were blazing on her three decks. "Yes ... right in front of ... the party boat." It looked like an enormous mardis gras float hovering just above the water line. Aside from that though, it was easy to miss.
"There is also another boat in front of us," Louis continued, "it might be the Lilly, maybe somebody new."
I squinted and made out a haze of light far ahead. I was now much more concerned with Elvis' floating wedding cake bearing down on us. "It's going the same way we are. What do I do if it gets any closer?"
"Switch boats."
It turned out that the small sailboat was the one to watch. Deck lights went on, then off, then she turned away, and then she turned hard-right and crossed in front of us. Following another series of confusing lighting changes, the boat headed westward again, along our starboard side. There was a series of flashes. Their crew were taking pictures of the party boat. Those will never come out. That task completed, the sailboat made a hard-left turn and crossed behind us, falling in well behind the cruise ship. Thankfully, Louis had stayed up top during this dance number, but he soon left me with three comfortably far-off boats so that he could grab some sleep.

There is no moon now, and the stars are brilliant in a monumental dome above us. "We are nothing," Tom had said. Sundays are special, so we had the last few eggs in the larder for breakfast, along with toasted bread rolls, butter, jam, and Swiss cheese.



Bella the Ibis is still with us, and as of a couple hours ago, we are now joined by a second Ibis. This one is an as-yet to be named male. He's much more self-assured, and has already inspected the cabin along with Barry's bed. "I'm going to be in trouble when Polly finds out I had a bird in my bed," he observed.
We are now sailing with spinnaker out and mostly blue skies. All is well here. As we draw closer to St. Lucia, we fully expect more sails, whales, and tales.





and of course, we have to finish with a lil bit o dutch:

Er gebeurt elke dag wel iets. Gisteren de meeste tijd regen. lles was doorweekt en na het drogen begon het weer te regenen. Gelukkig zijn we de avond droog ingegaan en bleef het droog.
Ook is er een kleine witte reiger geland en heeft ons niet meer verlaten. Zelfs vandaag als ik dit schrijf is er een 2de bijgekomen. Ze proberen de boot geheel te onderzoeken tot zelfs een zit op het bed van Barry. Waarschijnlijk om zijn eieren te leggen. We noemen de boot nu Loveboat for birds. Na de windstilte hebben we redelijk lang op motor gevaren We willen a.s. woensdag binnen zijn. Ik zal blij zijn weer even te kunnen telefoneren en te internetten. We hebben zoveel te vertellen.
N u schijnt de zon weer volop en varen we op spinnaker, heerlijk met een gangetje van 8 knopen.
Op zondagmorgen hebben we nu de traditie van 2 zachtgekookte eitjes en Keith vind ze fantastisch. Kennelijk kennen ze die niet in Amerika.
En zo gaan we gewoon weer verder met heel leuke kleine dingen groot te maken.
groetjes



PS from Mark: I am just composing the emails, getting them etc and I sit here on the couch inside with one of the white birds on the cockpit table literally within arm's reach. Very brave birds..:-)


cheers from the birds and people on board Maverick Dream