Monday 15 October 2012

Day 99: On board the Stahlratte at sea

Hello people

This extraordinary part of our saga continues.

We woke this morning to the chug of the diesel motor, the rattle of anchor chains and the sound of a sail being hoisted. At 6am we are off and heading north east out of the chain of islands and out to sea heading for Cartagena on the northern coast of Colombia. The trip will take around 30 hours so we should arrive around 10am tomorrow. Which is Monday! The bikes don't get unloaded till Tuesday so I am uncertain about immediate future plans.

These is very little wind so the sea is quite calm but we have had to get used to the monotonous thumping of the three-cylinder diesel motor powering us along at seven and a half knots. The stern sail is up but just flapping, waiting for a breeze to arrive.



Here's Shirl having her early morning shower.



We had a great breakfast



while Kiwi checked out the course and engine settings. Seem to be ok.



Ebony looks happy enough - hopefully she and her closely bound neighbour are friends by now.



He also checked out Captain Ludwig. Seems ok.



Shirl and I took the precaution of taking some seasickness pills even though we probably don't have to. Space on board is limited and being seasick would be very unpleasant. I have set the lures out from the stern. They look great but no fish. Yet.

Not much else to do really except doze and snooze and watch lures skimming along just under the water creating lovely streams of bubbles behind them. Then a little excitement as a pod of about 20 dolphins swam up alongside the ship, surfing in the bow wave and doing wonderful jumps and somersaults. No photos. Sorry. Diana got some so you might check out her blog.

It is very hot and I am struggling a little to find spots that are shaded but still have a little breeze flowing through. We had a rain shower that gave some temporary relief but not much.

Late in the afternoon a tiny falcon flew up to the ship. It looked exhausted. It crashed gratefully onto one of the foresails and stayed there all night.



And that was about it. Off to bed.




Today's run: 0kms
Cumulative: 26,107kms
Tipovers: 4


Location:At sea in the Caribbean

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