North Atlantic passage day 5

We motored all evening and almost all night, since there was no wind. Towards the morning wind slowly picked up, until we had to reef the sails at 7 in the morning. Wind grew strong and changed direction, and waves were big and short. We had uncomfortable ride all day, and unfortunately wind is mostly blowing from Azores. We have to tack and zig-zag towards our destination, so even though we made 125 miles in last 24 hours (720 in 120 hours), we are still 1540 miles from Azores.

North Atlantic passage day 4

We had a nice evening yesterday, wind was weakening so the sailing was pleasant but not as fast as the first days any more. In the middle of the night it died completely, so we started the engine and are still motoring at this moment. But the night was calm, we had a good sleep, and today is a perfect summer day. I baked banana bread in the morning, all of the bananas got ripe at the same moment. We saw a cargo ship passing and a couple of birds. In 96 hours we made 585 miles and have another 1637 miles to Azores.

North Atlantic passage day 3

We had a nice evening yesterday, with grilled dorado and a glass of wine. After good night we woke to another beautiful day, probably I shouldn't say Caribbean any more, but North Atlantic. Wind is slowly getting weaker, early afternoon we had to start the engine for one and a half hour. The beer is cold, water tanks full and we swam in the Atlantic. We're having dorado for dinner again. In last 24 hours we made 143 miles, despite delays.

North Atlantic passage day 2

Afer a nice dinner yesterday, we had a good night. At the beginning the wind was still strong, then it got a weaker. So did the waves, and we slept well. Today was a gorgeous Caribbean day with blue skies, sun and a few white cummuluses. We even saw a few birds. We are still doing a good speed with complete main, jib and a storm jib. We made 155 miles in last 24 hours.

North Atlantic passage day 1

We left Barbuda yesterday at about 3 in the afternoon, after doing some last boat work, good lunch and great snorkeling. We caught a big Dorado (Mahi Mahi) half an hour later, captain spent a whole hour cleaning and filleting it. Sailing was fast and a bit bumpy, we're slowly getting used to the rhythm of night watch system. Today the weather is sunny, wing good, sea not to bad. We're all ok. In first 24 hours we made 162 sea miles.

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Start of North Atlantic passage

 We sailed to Jolly Harbour on Sunday, after doing the clearance and boat hull cleaning in the morning in Deshaies. It was a fast and nice ride, we also hooked two big Barracudas and released them and a big Mahi Mahi, that jumped into the air to show off and then managed to unhook itself.

Yesterday we top up the fuel and did some shopping for food. One of our fuel tank was leaking at the hatch and it kept us busy whole afternoon and evening yesterday. But it looks good today and in a little while we are ready to leave for Barbuda, and tomorrow we'll sail off towards Azores.

We'll be posting some comments and positions on the blog, so you can see where we are and how we are doing.

Here are two additional links where you can follow our voyage:

Our last radioed position:

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/winlink.cgi?call=S51TA

Here you can see our daly route:

http://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=11&call=a%2FS51TA&others=1&timerange=86400&tail=86400


Wish us good wind and good weather!

P.S. Here are some farewell photos.

Sunset in Le Saintes.

A pretty Chain Moray.

A pair of Flying Gurnards - don't know why they are so differently colored, maybe they're mating.

Even on my last snorkeling in Le Saintes on Sunday morning I discovered some new animals - this is a Club Hydromedusa, 2,5 cm big slightly toxic jellyfish ...

... and a Paired-bell Siphonophore, a toxic jellyfish of a 2 to 7 cm size (without tentacles).