We’re now a little past a line drawn from Cape Hatteras to Bermuda. Bermuda is actually closer at about 110 nautical miles, versus 130 NM from Hatteras.
Today some of us broke out the shorts and T-Shirts for the first time; it’s gotten quite pleasant. Clear blue skies with only a couple of clouds combined with some nice breeze from the Northeast – right on our beam. We’ve been sailing fast and covering some good water.
This morning was the second time we tried some fishing too. Yesterday for a couple of hours in the Gulf Stream, I set a line behind us. Today…we knocked off fishing because we had enough for the fridge and I was sick of jumping up and down to haul the things in. We started with two small fish that I believe were Yellow Jacks. They weren’t big enough to haul any line off the reel and we noticed they were there when they were getting skipped along the surface behind the boat. We let them go; one book I have suggests they are “prized” for eating but I wasn’t sure so in they went. After this we took three successive Mahi Mahi (aka Dorado or Dolphin). These we know are spectacular eating. One was about two feet long, another was more like three feet. We let one tiny one go.
Mahi are fun fish to catch; they are such incredibly beautiful fish and they jump out of the water when striking and fighting – I saw both of the larger fish take my lure at the surface. It makes you a little sad to kill them, for their brilliant colors start fading as soon as you have them on the deck. Of course they are excellent to eat so I can get over this…
As we head into sunset,the wind has picked up a bit now to around 20 knots, which is enough to make us do some heeling and stir up some waves. We’re now sailing under reefed main sail and the staysail; we furled up the jib to settle things down a bit. Evenstar LOVES this sort of wind and we’ve been plowing through the waves on a good pace.
Three days in, everyone seems to be enjoying this – it’s a bit different than anything we’ve done and you have to stay on your toes. But it is incredibly beautiful out here; more than you would expect in such a stark place. The deep cobalt blue of the ocean, the clear air and sky, it really can be breathtaking.
Until tomorrow…
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At 11/11/2012 21:43 (utc) our position was 33°07.00’N 070°53.70’W
