We are now closest to our nearest satellite than we are to land. Our nearest landfall is Newfoundland, a few hundred miles away. The sea bed is some 4 miles below our feet! And we have 1390 miles to go to the Azores, making a good 6 knots at the moment..
Sailors are never happy! Just a few days ago I was complaining that it was too bumpy down below to be writing emails and blogs... and today it's too hot down below to be doing anything! The wind is at a lovely angle for us and we've been baking in the sunshine all day - so much so that the temperature inside is a fairly unbearable 31 degrees, and sadly no, Dinah does not have air conditioning. In fact she is sealed to be so completely watertight that we don't even have a hatch we can open to get a breeze blowing through.
We have half a loaf of bread left ... sadly the pitta breads did not survive the high temperatures and humidity and they had to go overboard to feed the fish. So it'll be a frenzy tomorrow morning to get to the bread for breakfast! We have some melba toast and cheese sticks though which will have to suffice for breakfast fare for the next few days.
The human mind is a wonderful thing really. Only a few days ago I was faced with my first 20 foot wall of water coming towards me, and my reaction was "oh holy crap" (that's the super duper polite version!!!). But Dinah rode over it as if it wasn't there, climbing steadly sideways and falling gently down the other side, sometimes changing direction slightly to ensure the easiest route. So my reaction to the next wall of water was more restrained - and now it seems perfectly normal to have these coming towards us, I don't even bat an eyelid.
A friend of mine emailed yesterday and said I was cool - and I responded that I didn't think so at all. On the contrary I had been a bit seasick, was grumpy that I desperately wanted a shower, and I wasn't eating properly. However, yesterday when the wind changed for us, we all had "huggie" showers, changed our clothes, ate a proper meal, and funnily enough the world seemed a lot different. And then this morning I finally had the "this is cool" moment I had been waiting for. I was on early watch, the sun was shining, the seas were lovely and rolly. Martin told me yesterday that his mobile home was rocking in the wind "like Dinah in a gale" and suddenly this morning it came to me that Dinah is like our little mobile home (albeit a little more mobile than most!) ... the guys were snoring down below, oilskins and boots were drying out on the rail, and I was on deck brushing my teeth amd watching over Dinah as we gently wend our way towards the Azores - and I was completely overcome with a feeling of "wow - now this is seriously cool!!!".
As it's so hot down below we've all been on deck all day, applying copious quantities of sunscreen, and with the famous Bose speakers belting out all sorts of music from our various ipods ... Johnny Cash, the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge, U2, Kings of Leon, Madeleine Peyroux ... I am still trying to convince them that you've got to have a bit of Brahms on a Sunday but I don't seem to be winning that battle!!! Maybe next week...
Time to retreat back to the lovely breeze!
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