Day 9 of the Return Trip
Day 8 was our lightest wind day yet. We managed to get plenty far enough north to escape the brunt of the coming low-pressure system. Around lunch time the breeze died off almost completely, so we took a few minutes to have a swim in the seemingly infinite and impossibly blue water.
Just after Raf, Ric and Dave were taking 'selfies' with Dave's GoPro about 20m from the boat, Dave took a dive under with the goggles to get an underwater pic of Raf. The next thing we all hear is Dave shouting: "Shark!
Shark! Get back to the boat!"
I tried to turn the bobbing boat back in their direction, while the three of them scrambled the short distance which must have seemed like a mile. We were all skeptical of Dave claims to have seen a shark in the middle of the ocean, but it just so happens that in the background of one of Dave's underwater pics of Raf, there it is - a flipping Jonny. Right there.
A few minutes of motoring later, we spotted a turtle, so Dave and I hopped in and swam with it for a bit.
For the rest of the day we motored along at a leisurely pace, with an albatross swooping around us curiously.
On an early morning night watch, Raf noticed some black icky stuff in the bottom of the boat. It was oil which had leaked from the dipstick that I hadn't put back into place correctly. We saw the reult of it when we lifted the floorboards and it was just a mess of black slime. So I spent the better part of the morning (actually the whole morning) on my hands and knees cleaning. The fact that the wind and waves were up, and the Ciao Bella rodeo show was on again didn't help much. But now it is clean.
We have caught 2 Dorado this morning and we intend on having one for lunch and one for dinner. You can't believe what catching a fish does for everyone's spirits. Especially Navidave/Davidaloca/
Moorcroft.
The breeze is cranking up. We have 2 reefs and the #3 jib up, wind on the beam, and it's my turn to drive.
Hope you're all having a cracking weekend back home!
Bren
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