Here is a “log” of notes I jotted down during my trip from Lunenburg to Salvador. I have also posted pictures to my trip album take during the journey, and here in Salvador. This is raw and unedited!!!!
Thursday Sept 23rd 2010
N43° 45.4380′
W63° 55.2119′
23:07 4242 NM to Salvador
We sailed from Lunenburg around 11:15am with a large crowd at the Fisherman’s Museum in attendance. Amongst them were several shipmates who have been on the ship since I boarded in Cleveland. Danny, Harko , and Colin were among them. Dan will rejoin the ship in Salvador, but Harko and Colin go their own way. We had a few minor glitches with our new foremast rig, but they were overcome in true bosom fashion. We lost the wind as we ventured out into the Atlantic so we began motoring late in the evening.
Friday September 24th 2010
We are continuing to “steam” as no favorable winds have appeared. We had a visitor this morning for a couple of hours. A very large sea hawk or sea eagle landed on the skysail yard and stayed an hour or so. After flying off to the west, it reappeared, this time on the upper topsail yard. We took several pictures of the bird before it once again headed for land 100 nm away. We wish it luck!!! The bird had dark feathers on it’s back, dark and light colored feathers on its tail, a white breast, white and black head with a tuft of black and bronze feathers on the back of its head. The beak had the sharp hook of an eagle or hawk. We also saw our first porpoises traveling along with the ship investigating us. Today was Captain Klaas’s birthday, and Marianne made him a wonderful apple tart beautifully decorated and tasting wonderful!!! Motor sailed all day and into the evening.
Saturday September 25th 2010
Woke up at 3:30 am for watch to discover we were once again under sail. The predicted south westerly winds have come and we are sailing along close hauled at 9 to 10 kn. It is very rough sailing in the gulf stream. We are heading for the Azore Islands, or more exactly a point 100 or so miles west of them. This will put us in a good position to travel straight away to the southwest coast of Brazil where Salvador is located. Everyone wished me a happy birthday in the evening. Marianne made me a very nice birthday tart, complete with candles! The crew gave me a Europa T-shirt as a birthday present.
Tuesday September 28th 2010
We are approaching the middle of the Atlantic, attempting to maintain a south easterly heading which will eventually put us somewhere near the Cape Verde Islands. Winds are not cooperating like they should so we have been motoring when they are not. We have not observed a lot of sea life… just a little sea weed (we are in the Sargasso Sea), and few flying fish here and there. The watch routine has settled in and I am still keeping track of our voyage on my road map!!!
Sunday October 3rd 2010
Presently at Latitude N31 32 W45 12. Sailing along at 4-8 NM per hr. We are now in the center of the Atlantic Ocean according to the road map, and are also more than half way to the Cape Verde Islands where we will next change course. We are now east of eastern most Brazil, but we need to travel another 900 nm further east to harness the tradewinds south of 15 degrees to get cleanly past the tip of Brazil. Caught our second 3-4 pound Dorato / Mahi Mahi/ Dolphin fish today! This makes a total of three in the cooler now awaiting a fish dinner.
Thursday October 7th 2010
Presently at Latitude N24 17 W39 24, Motoring and motor sailing the last 36 hours or so. We have been constantly followed by a high pressure system which has winds not favorable for sailing the direction we need to go. Stopped for a swim this evening…. Didn’t go in myself… water is still too cold for me.
Friday October 8th 2010
Presently at N23 5 W37 331. Sailing again as the winds have changed to North Easterly for the moment and we can once again sail for the Cape Verde Islands. We had a little bit of excitement this morning. We sited a very large motor yacht the Pegasus II, and we caught a very nice sized Wahoo fish, about 2 and one half feet long.
Sunday October 10th 2010
It’s 2:30AM in the morning… on night watch. Presently at N20 44 W35 27. Had great meal last night. We barbequed the Wahoo steaks from the previous day. It was wonderful. We are motoring as winds continue to be from the east which does not help us go southeast! Those trade winds have to show up sooner or later. The good news is that we have totally ducked any hurricane action. Otto is well north of us.
Thursday October 14th 2010
It’s 3:00pm in the afternoon. Presently at N11 51’ W30 19’. Caught 2 more wahoo tuna today. One was over 4ft long and weighed 12 kilos with the other weighing 9 kilos. I expect tuna to be on the menu in the near future. We are 600nm form the equator now and it is getting warm. The water temperature is now 28 C or 82 degrees F. The captain has declared a swim party for today from 6 until 6:30 pm.. just before sunset.
Sunday October 31 2010 – Salvador Brazil
We leave tomorrow for Ushuaia Argentina… another 3,500 miles or so south. Saw the small magellanic cloud, actually a small galaxy near our galaxy, and TUK47, a large globular cluster on night 4 days prior to arriving in Salvador. They are only visible from the southern hemisphere. Have spent the last two day roaming around Salvador. Posted more picture from the trip…. Can anyone identify the BIRD setting in the rigging. It arrived about 100 miles from Lunenburg, stayed overnight, and left the next day. Looks like some kind of eagle to me, but it is not a bald eagle. There are lots of fishing pictures. We caught a 4ft barracuda, and several 30 lb wahoo (tuna). They make great steaks on the grill. Even the barracuda was good! Should return on November 29th, so this will be my last post until I get home.
Hey Gary!
I haven’t seen a post in months – hoping everything is O.K. I did exchange e-mails and pics with Andy and Sarah over the holidays.
Would love to hear from you and see your photos.
Dan