Monday, December 17, 2007

Madeira to Caribbean - Day 8

The day we caught a fish! Actually, Joseph caught the fish. My captain and I stood by watching the small tuna jumping out of the water as Joseph reeled it in, but then it got away. Hours later there was another catch and this one didn't get away. We've no idea what kind of fish it was, but it was delicious. It was beautiful too - as if it was gold-leafed - with a narrow body about 2 feet in length and a blue Mohawk-like fin that ran from its head to its pronounced forked tail. We took a photo in hopes of identifying it someday. Any guesses? As if this wasn't enough excitement for one day, we also had two quick spinnaker take downs due to approaching squalls. The second take down was in the dark just before night watches so we opted to sail wind on wing with the 100% jib through the night. A good move, which avoided what would have been another rush take down when hard rain arrived just before first light. Overall wind is more consistent but we've not yet reached the trades. Day's run was 171nm over a 25-hour period (we had another time change) making our average 6.8kts. We finally saw a sailing vessel off in the distance and another sea bird. Surprised we aren't seeing more.

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