Saturday, November 16
We didn’t quite make 100 miles, but if the wind had come up even a little earlier, we would have. It’s blowing strongly now!
I’m down with that. I’m also totally good with it getting gentle at night.
A couple of AIS signatures have popped up, both class B meaning not required by law. I don’t know if they’re traveling together or one is overtaking the other, but they’re within a mile of each other.
They’ll both cross our bow several miles away, so I’m not concerned. It is a strange thrill to see other sailboats though, so I’ll get the binoculars out when they are closer.
Also, we have a stowaway! There were quite a few crabs living on our hull in Brava and it seems like this one sheltered in the cockpit drain when we took off. I’m a little flummoxed by the options. Carry what could be an invasive species into Martinique, or try to catch it and toss it overboard to die?
Update: the crab is welcome aboard for as long as it wants. It came out while I was reading and I got some pictures and a short video. I also realized that it’s been eating the cracker crumbs we drop so it’s actually contributing more to cleanup than Beluga does.
So. We can’t have a living being aboard without a name. Come on, I mean, we name our Monitor wind vanes.
Everyone, meet Mr. Crab Nebula!
And inevitably, we’ve started calling him Nebby.
Sunday, November 17
A tanker passed us going east last night. That makes three sailboats, a fishing ship, and a tanker so far on this trip. I don’t mind the lack of traffic one bit.
I was extra sleepy when the AIS signature appeared but wide awake once I saw it. I had 45 minutes of watching it approach and didn’t have to take action of any kind. It was 2 miles north of us at the closest so I got a good view of its lights without worrying about whether I’d have to dodge.
In less-good news, I’m badly constipated, to the point where my abdomen is tender to pressure. I made oatmeal from a new bag, inteiros rather than fino, spiced it up and topped it with a fried egg. I think inteiros means whole, with more fiber. I’m doing what I can and James didn’t notice a difference between the two types of oats.
The other bad news is that the toerail cap, which showed signs of separation on a scarf, is definitely compromised. In the cabin on the ceilings, there are signs of seawater staining. We’ll have to scrape and sand the toerail cap back to raw wood, fiberglass that section, and repaint. We have lots of other painting to do, so it’s not the end of the world. I am concerned about whether the salty water is corroding the fasteners in that area. I’ll see what kind of inspection I can do with a mirror and flashlight.
Noon position: N 15° 17.391’ W 035° 21.169’
Distance noon to noon: 106.2 NM
Average speed: 4.43 kn
Trip distance covered: 633.0 NM
Distance to destination: 1488 NM
