Sailing Away!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
Now YOU get to tell the story – in 1,000 words per picture:
And even a little room to write:

FEB 6
GOOD MORNING!
OK – so first, let me tell you just a few things about yesterday...

After a hearty breakfast and mango mimosas, preparing our ditch bags and final safety details, we weigh anchor and are off in 18-20 knot winds with 6’ swells. Leaving the BVI’s behind, we are greeted by a rainbow over St John.

We are all on a scheduled rotation of 3 hour and sometimes 4 hour watches, day and night – to be at the helm, watching for any wayward floating container(s) which may have fallen off a cargo ship, be alert to any boat problem, fishermen with no lights on their boats, the random one-man sailor sleeping at sea, other boats which don’t have AIS (Automatic Identification System which all large ships & Nutmeg have, showing on our chart plotter long before we can see them). There’s always someone on watch and we sleep when we can between our watches.

Gma’s first night watch was perfect timing for the 6:16pm sunset. And the moonrise, which snuck up behind us while the sun was setting. Sailed nicely along with Puerto Rico at a distance to our starboard and lots and lots of stars.

Off watch. Time for Gpa's night watch and time for Gma to sleep. XO XO

Argh. Didn't sleep a wink with all the boat noises and all the rockin' and a rollin', But, set the alarm, I must get up at the crack of dawn for my next watch! Stars are still out - the Southern Crose was bright, low in the sky followed by a beautiful 6:59am sunrise with the moon getting ready to sneak behind the clouds before it sets.
Now, for Today’s Excitement: a Traffic Jam at Sea!
Three cargo ships: Castillo de Villalba, CFS Wind and Sunrise – appear on the AIS, all crossing paths and basically on a collision course. Thanks to AIS, we can all see each other on our chart plotters and watch as boats adjust their course to give each other more space. Alas, no collisions. All is good.

XO XO Gma & Gpa

FEB 7
Ahhh…Slept like a baby last night and ready for my 6am morning watch and coffee. Anyone else see the fire breathing dragon?

After a couple days at sea, we have all adjusted (a bit) to being tossed around. The winds are 12-18 knots, we are averaging over 6

knots. Seeing flying fish of various sizes and a few birds – mostly a boobie or two.

Excitement of the day: Max’s keen eye discovered that we were dragging a long line behind us. Head to wind to slow down so Whitey can start pulling in the >100’ line which appears to have once had a lobster trap attached. No lobster for us, but we helped clean up some of the sea litter, we now have less drag and we can go faster!

Max prepared a lot of food and snacks ahead for easy eating while

sailing. Spaghetti, curry, lasagna, layered salads in a jar, chex mix … we are eating well … but I really miss the Great Harvest Ginger Cookies! XO XO Gma & Gpa

FEB 8
Things you think about when there’s lots of time to think:

Why do we say two names together in the order that we do? Max & Whitey. Jim & Ruth. Owen & Sarah. Does the slightly shorter name go first? NOT: Eric & Amy. Will & Sam. Burton & Annie. Maybe we tend to put the “y, ie” at the end? And when we reverse them it just doesn’t sound right. Is one person more important than the other? Is it a family thing? Do Doug & Carol say: Sarah & Owen? Bill & Patti: Amy & Eric? Todd & Susie: Anne & Burton? Why don’t we say Carol & Doug, Patti & Bill, Susie & Todd??

Maybe Lucy has it right after all…
XO XO Gpa & Gpa

FEB 9
We have had strong seas and winds – anywhere from 18-24 knots and some periods of 25 to over 30 knots of winds with seas from 6’ to 12’ swells. With our jib reefed 50% and winds mostly behind us, we average 8 to 9 knots over ground, sometimes surfing to over 20 knots. Nutmeg happily floats and sails along, keeping her passengers safe and comfortable.

A giant, powerful swell suddenly came up over our transom during Max’s watch. Some water found its way into the engine room which could be a problem for our generator. Glad we will be at anchor soon to investigate and remedy the problem. Meanwhile, wecan’t use the generator, but can still use the engines.
We are all enjoying our floating reading room and eBooks. We have all by now read The Island Queen a wonderful historic novel about life and slavery in the Caribbean in the 1800’s. Recommended reading for all adults. Also: The Radium Girls, Finding Napoleon, The Magic Kingdom, Fever 1793. All great historic novels. We’re also reading books about the history of how the Panama Canal was built and I have some books I hope to download when we have internet again about the San Blas and French Polynesia.

Reading is like watching a movie in slow motion – using your imagination to visualize the people, clothing, scenery, action, etc. based on how the story is written and described instead of the movie limiting your imagination. Besides the story you are reading, you become a better speller, learn punctuation, grammar, new words and become a better thinker and communicator – so many more benefits over watching a movie / TV show. People need to be good thinkers – be open minded, learn new things, look at the many sides of things, and think for themselves. There. Gma’s Werds of Wizdum for the day.

XO XO Gma & Gpa

FEB 10
Last day and night at sea before arriving to the San Blas Islands of Panama. Crossed paths with “Norwegian Sky” a large cruise ship lit up as bright as a floating star. With lighter winds, we motor sail the rest of the way to the San Blas to arrive early morning. XO XO Gma & Gpa