New Year's Eve

Saturday 31 December 2016
Position 16 41.787N 54 26.048W 13.30GMT

Just before dawn Niall was on watch and saw the first ship for about 10 days. Called the Sea Biscuit, we wondered if it was a luxury yacht with a horse racing owner. I called on VHF and wished them Happy New Year. Turned out it was a 200 m long cargo ship heading for New Orleans.

It's blissful being alone on deck for the 6-9am watch, whilst the other three sleep peacefully below. The sky lightens a long time before the sun rises when the sky is clear. Flying fish scoot across the waves as we thunder down a big swell. I ate my muesli in bliss, eyes alert for any whales, soaking in the rosy dawn. Then two white tailed tropic birds joined me, circling overhead, long white tail feathers streaming in the wind.

Yesterday we saw no whales, but Kyle fished as usual. However he was shocked to lose the line and bait again to something very powerful. To bring in a big fish we really need to slow down rather than keep roaring along at 7-8 knots. However we had poled out the Genoa so that we could aim more directly downwind to Antigua, and turning to windward to slow down is more involved. So next the Watamu Yoyo was deployed with its very strong line and steel tracer. Not long later that lure had gone too and so had the teaser, an orange fish that splashes along on the surface, its wire snipped through by very big teeth we suppose.

We have now eaten all the last big dorado, cooked four ways over three days. Absolutely delish fish!

We had new signs of life yesterday with 20 metre-long strings of sea weed undulating over the swell. Mark captured some, and it seems to be like sea holly, with thin serrated leaves and tiny green-brown air-filled berries which provide the buoyancy.

Sea holly aggregates into long windblown strands across the ocean

Ahead we have the New Year of 2017 and, in four more days, Antigua. It will be a strange transition from endless cycle of watches as we race across the ocean, eating, sleeping, fixing boat issues, doing crossword puzzles, sketching or reading. Mark practicing the ukelele.......I need to do the same. Questions that we can't answer can't be Googled, the news is only just accessible through the crackle and whine of BBC World Service on the long range radio, but it doesn't seem worth worrying about. In this strange limbo we approach 2017, wondering what it will hold.

Best wishes to everyone for a HAPPY NEW YEAR from Paul, Mark, Kyle and Niall aboard TinTin

Here's a couple of sketches of the crew.    Sorry I haven't done Mark yet.

Kyle reading "The Worst Journey in the World"

Niall and Whales

We sail with Whales !

A Mincke Whale looks in on us.

29 December 2016 17 57.67N 50 08.38W 16:30 GMT-3
Every 15 degrees that we travel westwards our sunrise gets later and later.
So when we reached 45 degrees west of Greenwich I put ship's time back a other hour so that we are 3 hours behind GMT, which means that sunrise is back to 06:45 and sunset is 17:30 ish.

Yesterday we had a wonderful encounter with a whale which looked about 4-5 metres long, and had a greenish brown tinge. We could see a small dorsal fin and a white flipper. Attempts at photography were made both above and below water, but we didn't get a really good look at it. Studying our whale book we deduced it was a minke whale because of the white flippers.
It seemed to follow us discreetly for ages.

Beautiful Mincke 

Distant Mincke beyond our rudder

White flippers - like Tin Tin's twin white rudders.

Then today at breakfast we gybed to head SW and soon found that we had whale company again. But this time there were three Minkes, and they seemed very relaxed and inquisitive.. We furled the Genoa and hove to and, almost stationary rolling in the big swell, we had an extraordinary hour or so with our companions, and managed to get some very beautiful video in the clear blue water.

We also had brief visits from Wilson's petrel, Cory's shearwater and a tropic bird. The sea has more debris in it. Yesterday we passed a big black ship's fender, and a red milk bottle crate. Then today we saw a few bits of bladder wrack seaweed, the first so far, and just now a tennis ball. You can tell it's exciting out here! The puzzle is that the North a Equatorial current which is meant to be pushing us west at 0.5-1.5knots appears to be running north or south at different places. So debris mostly is blowing westwards, but the current may bring the seaweed from somewhere else.

Meanwhile Mark has got full capacity out of the watermaker so I can now allow everyone a brief shower. Having said that we stripped off on deck this morning to get a fresh water wash in a tropical rainstorm. The other problem of the engine battery appears to have been resolved too, so all is well.

Calm and rainstorms & a strange light in the sky!

Yesterday was Boxing Day and we had a gentle time of it as the wind died and we ghosted along with quieter seas. We passed the midway mark and are now as remote as it's possible to get on this earth, more than a thousand miles from land in any direction, with no sight of ship or plane for a week now. We managed to make some more drinking water and provided that keeps going I can relax. However we need more wind to get to Antigua, and at this rate the computer estimates arrival on the 1st of February! We hoisted our colourful Parasailor spinnaker and this pulled us along well in the light breeze.

We had tropic birds occasionally visit us and all of us tried to get photos. Certainly we had red-billed tropic birds, but also one with black shoulders and a yellow beak that was likely a white tailed tropic bird.

Last night the calm seas were deceptive as big rainstorms crept up and suddenly delivered a gale and pouring rain. On the radar they looked like bright red blobs coming to get us.

On night watch I saw a strange light flash periodically near Cursa, a star near Rigel in the Orion constellation. Not an aircraft, as it held station for 15 minutes. Not a low earth satellite as they pass quickly. Just possibly a geostationary satellite, but these are 36,000 km away and they don't normally flash. So rather a puzzle!    Eventually I concluded that it must be Sirius, the Dog Star, which is extremely bright and has fooled me before.

The light winds continued this morning and we had another slow day being pushed north. Kyle and Niall got out the GoPro camera and got some great underwater footage in Bombay Sapphire blue water and bright sunshine. When we played them through on the computer the last shot recorded sounds like Dolphins clicking. At that point Mark yelled from the deck as a whale had just passed alongside. We rushed up but missed it. If only we had kept filming a little longer!

Kyle was disappointed yesterday by a big dorado that took his line and ran it straight out of the reel, but then today, as the sun was setting, he got another beauty a meter long and 7kg in weight. This time I brought the boat to a stop and hove to so that he could reel it in successfully.

The wind suddenly picked up after dark and we are now sailing fast in the right direction. However we now have a new puzzle to fix. The engine has insufficient electrical supply to start, despite having a new engine battery fitted in Tenerife. Fortunately we have a few days to trace the problem, and we still have the "house" batteries and generator working.

Merry Christmas everyone!

We woke this morning to find four little Christmas stockings hanging under the spray-hood. Somehow Santa had shinned down the mast last night between watches! For a nasty moment we reckoned that he wouldn't find us as our navigation lights were off for a while by mistake, but fortunately Niall put that right. Kyle was so entranced by the Christmas Dawn that he didn't retire to his bunk at the end of his watch but got out the rod and started fishing.

The tropic bird returned, a red-billed avian Rudolph, and looked at Kyle's bait with a knowing eye and moved on. The day opens before us sunny with deep blue seas towering above us astern and crests of foam roaring as they crash alongside, rarely offering more than a splash to our cockpit. The motion seems smooth, with occasional exciting rides down the steeper seas in a flurry of foam.

Happy Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Today we were already 100 miles west of Recife in Brazil! We are making good progress averaging 7.3 knots so far. With 1400 miles to go we are more than a third of the way there.

We had a lovely sunny day, as always amazed by the size of the big following blue seas topped with white foam, and often pale green blue at the crest where the sun shines through. Red-billed tropic birds are regular visitors which circle us briefly and then examine our foaming wake for food before heading south.

We have settled in to the process of running the boat, delivering meals on time and reading or fishing. Mark and I each spent an hour nursing the watermaker and achieved about 70 litres. Water rationing is on hold for a bit longer.

Mark erected a little Christmas tree on the aft deck and we listened to crackly broadcast of carols from Kings College on the radio. Then we had a sunset party with gin & tonic and nibbles before supper and delved into the Christmas box happily unwrapping presents of false beards, games, seashore party lights and miniature buckets and spades. All thanks to Anne!

Then as Mark produced supper Niall and Kyle spotted a pilot whale!

Finally we tested our satellite phone and managed a Christmas message or two. Now we are on night watch hoping that Santa will slide down our mast tonight

Day 3 - Water water everywhere.......

We have had a day of sunshine and showers. I re-lashed the dinghy which had worked loose and was swinging about, and then emptied the aft locker of water. Yesterday's attempt at sealing the leak had been partially successful, and instead of 2.5 buckets I only removed one. More sealant applied, but In the process of crouching in the locker the door swung and banged a bolt into my head. Luckily nothing worse then a lump.

Kyle then got his fishing rod out and managed to get the line wound into the wind generator. This resulted in some risky balancing acts, whilst fully clipped on of course, which eventually got the mess sorted out. His rod is now deployed to port :-)

Mark not feeling well unfortunately. We are being vigilant about hygiene to avoid it spreading.

Water usage is a issue. Our 600 litre tanks are enough for each person to have 10 litres per day for two weeks. Yet usage has been double that figure. This is not a problem if the watermaker functions well as we can produce 60-90 litres an hour while the generator runs. But although it has been working OK up till now, yesterday it wouldn't. Today Kyle helped me to investigate, and we found the primary pump wasn't working. This turns out to be a failure of a transformer which delivers 12 volts. Fortunately the deck wash pimp is in the same compartment, and we managed to plumb that in. However the system did not run smoothly and although I sat hunched up in the forepeak for an hour twiddling the knobs to coax it along I think we only made 30-40 litres. So I have to institute water rationing until we can reliably top up the tanks.

Back on deck for tea and Stollen and the treat of seeing several individual red-billed tropic birds circle us and then head off south.

We're fixing a hole........

Mark and I checked the port deck locker again this morning, and in 12 hours it had collected about 45 litres of water. Once it was bailed out and dried I locked Mark in to look for light shining through gaps in the seal. Nothing there so we got it all dry and watched for water appearing. Eventually we found that the second stringer down from the deck was occasionally squirting water in from the weld to the transom. By videoing in a tight space I could see a small hole which was letting water in. The transom plate has a water tight box the other side, so that must have water in it which slops around as the boat heels. For it to get in that box there must be a hole and we hope that we have found and sealed that. It's where a block of wood was screwed in to support the swim ladder.

A few hours later..... we found there is still seepage but maybe not so much.

We crossed tracks with a ship and logged Tin Tin's 7000th mile at midday.

However midday is not what it used to be. I shifted ship's time from GMT to 2 hours earlier as we have come 300 miles west of Cabo Verde. I have also changed the watch rota so that each person has 3 hours on and 9 hours off. We had been doing 4 on and 4 off in pairs till now. The new crew are now trusted to handle their watch solo!

Imam sat in glorious sunshine on the aft deck with beautiful blue sky blue sea and blue flying fish around me as we make up tri 12 knots westwards.

Kyle catches his first fish

It has been a grey overcast day with big seas and strong winds. We have seen 12.5 knots surfing down the waves. Eventually the clouds thinned and the sun gave us a little warmth and sparkle on the sea. We had three brief visits from dolphins today with flying fish a frequent sight springing from the waves. The only birds sighted were Wilson's petrels? In the afternoon I chucked the Watamu Yoyo out to try fishing and was soon joined by Kyle as he put his new rod together. He soon caught my line, but we sorted that out, and as we were just finishing supper his rod bent encouragingly and he soon had a beautiful electric blue fish with a yellow tail close alongside. I gave it a squirt of rum to put it out, and then Kyle set about filleting.
Today we managed 180 miles in 24 hours. The wind has eased a bit but is forecast to rise again.
Our position at 19:30 21/12/16 is 17 08N 28 17.5W on the direct Great Circle route to Antigua.

Farewell Cabo Verde

It was great fun having visitors in Cabo Verde, and sad to see Anne, Becky and the children off last night. But now with Kyle and Niall on board we have been preparing to set off across the Atlantic and today has been busy filling up with water, stowing food, fixing the aft heads again, hoisting Mark up the mast to check rigging, filling the gas tanks.

We had a final lunch in the floating bar, handed back our passes and detached ourselves from the marina. We had to circle while another French boat filled with diesel and then we got alongside and topped up with 122 litres. Our last fill up was in Cascais in Portugal.

Setting a triple-reefed mainsail and full genoa we roared out of the harbour past the various wrecks and into the channel between São Vicente and São Antão. Big seas rolling down and wind a steady 35 knots, but nonetheless it felt comfortable and I was very happy and relieved to be setting off at last.

We soon passed the French boat, "Vedrouille", which we had seen earlier and spoke them on the radio. They are a family with a six year-old on board heading to Martinique.

The mountains either side are so dramatic and to my joy several Tropic birds flew past with their long pair of white tail feathers streaming in the gale. It's their breeding season and I'd been surprised that we'd not seen them or the Magnificent Frigate birds.

Mark produced an exceptional chicken balti with all the trimmings as night fell and we rounded the southern tip of São Antão and headed due West to the Caribbean.

The Roaring Forties!

When I went off watch last night at midnight we had been roaring along in a full gale towards the island of Sao Nicolau. Later, when I came back on watch at 03:00, Mark showed me the maximum speed on his watch, which set the record so far at 12.5 knots. The waves had got even bigger as the gale blew unabated, and he'd had a long surf!

The moon was full and, despite the veil of cloud, it lit the sea well so that one could see the waves rear up behind one. By early morning we were running along the southern coast of Sao Nicolau and its mountainous spine was clearly visible in the silver glow. As we rounded the southern-most point the sea shallowed abruptly from 3000 metres to just 100 and if the full swell had still been with us it could well have broken like surf, but we rounded it OK and hardened up to the north towards the port of Tarafal seven miles on. Here we finally dropped anchor in calm water under great cliffs, to the sound of a cockerel heralding the dawn! Once we were happy that the anchor would hold in the vicious squalls funnelling down from the peaks we turned in for a couple of hours of sleep.

Tarrafal, São Nicolau

Over breakfast we saw that the beach was a tumble of volcanic boulders and black sand. Buildings sprang from the same soil like unripe grey blocks, of which a relatively few mature ones had ripened into vibrant pinks, greens, blues and yellows. In front of us a huge canyon cut back into the mountain, it's alluvial fan dotted with buildings, built by people with so little experience of rain that they appeared to be unaware of the risk of being washed away by a hundred-year cloud burst.

I took the opportunity to try sketching the view, and then we watched while a tug towed in a yacht that had apparently been dismasted. A frisson of interest went through all seven anchored yachts and cameras appeared, while squalls blasted spray out of the harbour surface. We had considered a trip ashore, but the need to get to Mindelo was pressing, and we would be required to fill entry forms at the harbour office, so we upped anchor and set off.

Our route through the Cape Verde Islands before heading to Antigua

Along the south coast was smooth water with sudden squalls, and flying fish passing like plump guillemots. Soon we were out in the roaring sea again with good sized waves occasionally as high as the first spreaders on the mast. We found that the staysail and triple reefed mainsail was a good combination, and had a fantastic roaring sail in 40 knot winds for 50 miles along along the chain of islands to Mindelo, marvelling at the fantastic jagged skylines they presented. Despite the waves breaking over the cockpit I managed a couple of sketches to remind me of the dramatic views.

Big waves in Force 8-9 as we sail past Ilheu Branco

Sunshine breaks through the cloud over São Vicente

Sunset came at 19:08 and we eventually turned down the channel to Mindelo in heavy seas and pitch black conditions, cutting inside the rock, Ilheu dos Passaros, guarding the entrance and into a more sheltered bay full of anchored freighters. Amongst these were many anchored yachts and we found a good spot clear of all to drop anchor in 5 metres, letting out 35 metres of chain in order to secure ourselves in the gale.

Mark made a curry and we watched "Where Angels Fear to Tread", the title of which appealed to us after our adventure today. Tomorrow we meet Anne, Beccy, Kyle, Niall and the children and will get on with provisioning do the Atlantic crossing.

The following morning as we had breakfast we were shocked to see a great sunken cargo vessel lying on her side just astern of us.  In the dark with all the confusing bright lights we hadn't spotted the hulk at all!

We took the dinghy ashore and completed formalities at the floating yacht club, where we soon met up with the rest of the family after they flew in from Sal.   Beccy and family have rented a lovely apartment in an old merchant's house with a shady courtyard.    

We had a good day or so exploring the town with its very African market, and impressive blue and white tiles depicting historical scenes, and then explored round to a lovely beach looking across the channel that we had sailed in last night.   

Tile depicting the port and the headland called "Washington's Head"

Mindelo Market

View across to São Antão from Mindelo, with the rock, Ilheu dos Passaros, that we sailed inside at night

Exploring Sal

Coming ashore in a foreign port is strange, as one tries to orientate oneself to the layout, the location of the Port offices and Immigration and at the same time trying to gauge the temperament of the people one meets, trying to take your line at the dock, offering to sell baseball caps emblazoned with "Cape Verde No Stress", and vendors of cowrie shell bracelets, dolls, necklaces and countless other trinkets.

Cape Verde lager

We assiduously locked our outboard to the tender and, led by a lad named Sandro, wandered into the village of Palmeira. Sandro kindly relieved Stuart of the black bin liner of rubbish and then showed me the police offices. Here we hung around for a couple of hours waiting for the Immigration official to stamp our passports, and then eventually made it to a little bar overlooking the harbour for a well deserved beer.

This was followed by a fish lunch in a nearby restaurant, at which point I got a taxi to the airport to meet my incoming family.

Fishermen mending nets in Palmeira

Two hours later they had finally escaped the bedlam of visa queues and luggage mix ups, and we set off to their accommodation in Villa ao Mar at the southern tip of the island. I must say that I was impressed with the beachside apartment and the little town itself was most congenial and not overdeveloped. I would certainly come here again for a winter beach break.  Better still, the air fare is only about £250 return.

I stayed the night with family, while Mark guarded the boat, and Stuart had a hotel until his flight took him home.  Then the next day everyone trekked over to Palmeira for lunch before Mark and I set off for our next rendezvous in Mindelo Island.   Somehow I lost my prescription sunglasses at lunch!

The wind was now a full gale with 40 knots raising sand into the air. Mark had put a rope snubber on the anchor chain to stop it snatching, but it had snapped. He dived successfully to pick up the hook and severed snubber line before we set off.

I'm now on watch at 23:00 halfway across the 70+ miles to Sao Nicolau. The wind is still a full gale blowing 35-45 knots and the seas are large. Under genoa alone we are making 8.5 - 11.5 knots. Once dawn breaks we aim to explore a new island and then push on the remaining 70 miles to Mindelo.

arrival in Cape Verde

We woke on Monday 13th to find ten flying fish on deck! Their glorious ephemeral pale blue had faded, and their extraordinary gossamer wings tinged with chestnut were but shrivelled fins at their sides. Nonetheless one could see in the lower elongated tail fin how they could dip that into the water to give an extra boost to keep flying, and the extra muscle shows as a dorsal bulge. Their large round eyes must be adapted to see in air as well as water, because they quite clearly navigate the slopes of waves and guide themselves round crests. The less experienced flyers tend to get caught sideways by the wind and splash out rather too soon, but the big boys - the survivors- can keep flying a long, long way, just dipping the lower tail fin and giving a quick flick to keep flying, rising over the big waves using the lift to stay airborne. One wonders whether they revel in flight or whether it is a fearful escape, always anticipating the jaws of a hungry dolphin.

One of our unlucky flying fish visitors

All day we sailed downwind in force 6-7 towards the island of Sal.  Eventually I got fed up with tacking downwind and we set a direct course, goose winging the Genoa.

This evening I produced "Lake" soup and herb dumplings for supper, and we watched the sun go down and the full moon rise while we ate. ("Lake" soup is made of lentils, carrots and onions as produced by our cook Asafa to feed us children when we returned from a family weekend at Lake Malawi.)

Just before sunset we had a visit from eight blunt headed short finned pilot whales, who gave us a quick once over before setting off to find their own supper. No frivolous dolphin playtime for them, more's the pity.

Finally at about eight pm we began to see evidence of the island of Sal ahead. As the moon rose and illuminated the scene ahead it became evident that what we had thought of as a flat island was actually formed of several volcanic peaks. As we entered the channel between islands, and turned up to the wind we suddenly felt the full force of what we had been sailing in for the last 5 days, and with the wind on the beam we now we roared along at 9.5 knots.

Shortly afterward, at half past ten, with sails down we motored gingerly into Palmeira port, and found a spot to anchor amongst twenty other yachts. We toasted our 880 mile trip with a glass of rum, and reflected on the five and a half days it had taken to get here.

 Tomorrow we will deal with port clearance, and then meet Anne and Beccy et al.

Flying Fish!

It is getting warmer as we travel south, and suddenly the seas seem to be more obviously alive. Sudden swarms of flying fish burst from the waves tails driving them forward to then glide off for a hundred yards to safety. Their bodies are an iridescent blue underneath and silver on top, and they hold transparent fairy wings that are held stiffly out sideways. Sometimes the bigger fish touch their tails into the water and give a powerful thrash that propels them back into the air.

We had two dolphin visits, the first of which was a group of 8-10 Atlantic spotted Dolphins which had new tricks to show. The waves had built up to impressive size so that we could see the Dolphins swimming just under the wave surface as it rolled towards us. Some of the group were leaping from high waves with a half twist to land with a loud smack in the water. Others had the trick of leaping out and tail smacking to make a loud slap. To my surprise I saw a small light brown shark amongst them, the first on this trip.

We tried to get video of the Dolphins, but as soon as I had the GoPro on a pole they shot off.
However it proved useful later when trying to investigate an annoying vibration in the rear cabin. Eventually we tracked it to the port rudder, and lowered the camera down to get a look at it. There we found a clump of reeds trapped between rudder and hull, tapping furiously as the water rushed past.

I have just come on watch at midnight and Mark reported seeing a blue light in the water earlier. The spotlight showed no reflections from liferaft or life jacket and it was consistent with an oceanographic buoy.

While we had supper the sun set and suddenly there was a shower of flying fish, one of which landed in the cockpit. It was about 9 inches long and I had difficulty grabbing it to get it back to the sea. Later Stuart was on watch and was pelted with fish, many of which are still on deck.

We are sailing a little to the east of our direct course, as this is dead downwind and uncomfortable to sail. With a steady Trade wind of 25 knots, gusting 30, we are making between 6.5-9 knots through the water. The Canaries current, which is meant to push us along has been ahead for much of the time, although now it is flowing across our track towards Africa. Our ETA at Sal is about midnight on 13th December, so there will be some tricky navigation getting into Palmeira amongst the wrecks and rocks.

The plan is to then complete port formalities, and put Stuart ashore as he flies home from there. With luck we will be able to meet up with Anne, Becky, Kyle, Elwin, Ion and Niall.

The Southern Cross

I came on watch at 06:00 to find that the wind had conveniently come round to the East a little, bringing us back on track towards our destination. Yesterday it had backed North a bit forcing us to head towards Africa rather more than we needed.

The moon had gone down leaving the night really dark. I was thrilled to see that the Southern Cross, or Crux, was clearly visible above the horizon. A glance astern showed The Plough, or Big Dipper, upside down and pointing to the Pole Star. Our position is at 20 02.44 N and 20 30.93W at 07:00 as dawn lightens the sky and the stars are hidden.

Earlier I was on watch at about midnight engrossed in reading a book. I got up for a scan of the horizon to find a very brightly lit cruise ship just a mile away. Rather a shock after seeing nothing for days, and it is a reminder of how quickly things can appear over the horizon. I checked that we were going to pass clear, and then called the "Aida Cara" to check that they could see us on AIS. I was pleased to hear that it was working fine, and that we were also visible on radar. It was rather nice to have a little chat with them as I watched the purple, blue and red flashing lights of their disco floor glide by.

into the Tropics

Sunday 11th December 2016
We are making good progress southwards, and passed the Tropic of Cancer at about 1am this morning. Our three hour watch rhythm has settled in and is working well, giving us all plenty of rest.

Last night was wonderful moonlight again with a few bright stars easily identifiable, but it wasn't until about 4am after moon set that it became dark enough to see the multitude of stars, and then some meteorites as well. When I came on watch I found Mark practising his ukelel and that spurred me on to follow suit. I've got as far as Twinkle Twinkle .....

This morning we started the watermaker which replenished our tanks, giving everyone the chance if a shower. We had three Dolphins visit us, and both Mark and Stuart saw turtles swim past. Wilson's petrel had been an occasional visitor, and to my astonishment I saw a small moth, 180 miles from Africa and heading south.

The barometer dropped from 1012 to 1008 this morning suggesting that stronger winds are due to arrive later.

Down the coast of Africa

Saturday morning dawned and I came on watch at 09:00 to relieve Mark. The boat is sailing fast under full sail with a 25 knot beam wind taking us along at 8knots or more. As a result our ETA in Cape Verde has come back from 14th December to the day before.

We breakfasted together in warm sunshine in the cockpit and the day has been absolutely perfect as we race along with a very peaceful motion. A couple of cargo ships appeared on our AIS chartplotter but at 10 miles I couldn't see them. One was a Chinese tanker heading to Singapore with an ETA on 14/1/17. By then I trust we will be with Kate and family in the Caribbean.

Bits of driftwood appeared intermittently. Mostly reddish sticks from reed beds, occasionally with a green shoot poking hopefully skywards. Mark saw a small white bird. Exciting stuff!

However last night I had a magical 3 hour watch from midnight with the moon blazing a path across the sea. I hard a few unusual wave sounds and soon saw the dark shapes of Dolphins. Over a period of an hour they kept coming from the west, leaping through the moonlight to play under our bow wave.

This voyage is almost perfect with steady wind, lovely temperature, and a kindly motion over the swell. However we have all been taking time to get our sea legs so there has been an uneasiness as we go about the tasks of navigating and making meals. Yesterday both Stuart and I succumbed briefly, but today are feeling on top of it all. Big smiles all round!

Farewell Tenerife

I rejoined TinTin on 6th December after my medical course, carrying a big bag of Medicines and first aid kit and an improved knowledge of how use them. I found that Mark and Stuart had done lots of useful maintenance jobs and had got an electrician to deal with battery issues. It being a bank holiday we had a couple of days delay whilst a new engine start battery was procured and fitted. Stuart and I took the opportunity to explore the island by car, and were able to get up the volcano Pico Teide by cable car. Such dramatic scenery ,

Sketch from Pico Teide 

We left Tenerife on Thursday 8th and have now sailed 170 miles South. Atoll Feeling a Kittel qu'est, (errr... All feeling a little queasy!) but hoping to get our sea legs back soon. Today we had a welcome visit from exuberantly leaping Atlantic spotted dolphins. Later I spotted a big green turtle swim past. Sun is now setting and Mark is putting together couscous and ratatouille for supper.

Medical training in the UK

Mark and I have now completed the 4-day Medical First Aid course at Hamble School of Yachting with our excellent trainer Sue Johnson.  The four day course was tough but very interesting and engaging, and has given us a great set of skills to respond to medical emergencies at sea, from fractured limbs to heart attacks.

Putting a neck brace on a suspected spinal injury

Then, while Mark and Stuart went Tenerife for a few days maintenance work, I stayed on for the  5-day Medical Care course, so that I could get the full Marine & Coastguard Agency approved qualification required for commercial vessels, which will allow me to prescribe and requisition any necessary drugs without recourse to a doctor.

Days 5 & 6 dealt with lots of wound treatment, and a detailed practical using sterile procedures and proper equipment to learn to insert catheters.

Ready to start with the sterile catheter kit

At the end of Day 7 I am proudly able to inject sub-dermal anaesthetic and suture wounds neatly.  

My dressmaking skills are handy suturing wounds

Following the course our over-riding aim is to prevent accidents from happening!

Meanwhile back in Tenerife, Mark & Stuart are cracking on with all sorts off outstanding jobs.  To my great relief they report that the freezer is working well and maintaining -12.7 degrees C.

I aim to be back on board on Tuesday 6th December and to then set sail for Cape Verde on the 7th.