31 May 2010- Happy Memorial Day

31 May 2010 1300/ 1100GMT 37’ 17.98 N 003’ 26.68 E Baro 1020 Trip log: 3979nmiles to date

Happy Memorial Day from the Med! We’ve been back underway since Friday 28th May at 2100hrs after a short stay in Gibraltar. Since we are on such a tight time schedule we needed to get underway no later than that in case the weather does not act in our favor on this leg of the passage. And so far that has proven to be a wise choice since we have had very little wind and at times currents running against us…for the most part we’ve been averaging about 6.5 to 7 knots since our departure from Gibraltar…meaning, that right now its pretty slow going. The seas have been calm and the weather is getting increasingly warmer which is a nice change from the cold and rain we experienced on our leg from the Azores to Gibraltar. Days have been hot and sunny and night watch has been pleasant and cool with just some leggings and a fleece needed to stay warm. We have been able to see land (when the visibility permits) for most of this passage so far…traveling about 34 miles off the coast of Algeria. There has also been relatively heavy boat traffic which is a stark contrast to what we’ve been used to up until now…the majority of vessels we are seeing are large container ships. Another thing that has changed is the amount of chatter on the radio…since we are traveling alongside ships from all over the World the radio sounds like some sort of recording from the United Nations! We’ve also been surprised to hear a little Britney Spears on the airways, some creepy baby crying in the middle of the night, several mayday calls and alarms have gone off within the last 48hrs as well. Boomer said this is the norm when in the vicinity of Africa…he doubts they are pirates rather just people on smaller vessels goofing off. Still it is quite strange being in the chart house in the middle of the night doing a boat check and hearing some creepy voices coming over the radio. Yesterday at lunch we crossed over the Prime Meridian 000’00.00E which was pretty cool. As of right now the GPS has us out 5 more days…putting us in Athens on June 5th , roughly 2 days early…our anticipated ETA was June 7th…therefore Palermo may still be an option but that is still not certain and if it does happen it will be a short stay much like the one we had in Gibraltar. Another exciting site yesterday was a large Marlin that jumped about 3 feet out of the water while we were on watch yesterday afternoon…quite a site to see indeed! I am truly having the time of my life..although the past few days have brought a few challenges mentally and I can feel myself losing steam. I do love it out here but the idea of home and seeing my friends and family is comforting right now…I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and I will be updating you again soon!