 |
| Yum - we love Champers! |
|
|
| Written by Lin & Rachel at sea | |
| Thursday, 31 January 2008 | |
|
We may be a little inebriated by the time we arrive in English Harbour. Good job we get an escort from the Antigua & Barbuda Search & Rescue Team really.
As you may have gathered by now, we have less than a ¼ of the race to go and we seem to be storming along to the finish – we’re even starting to think that we may have to slow down a bit so we don’t arrive before our families (not a serious problem yet)! Despite the high mileage, we even gave ourselves a nice afternoon break yesterday. We both sat on opposite sides of the boat and dangled our feet over the side into the sea because it’s been so hot and the cool water helps Lin with her swollen foot. There were quite a few fishes that were probably under the boat seeking shade from the sun, which was quite funny as Lin doesn’t like having them near her so every now and then Lin’s feet would be out of the water like a shot.  Whilst enjoying the cool water, we had a good look over the side of the boat and noticed there were a few too many critters making a home on our hull again so Rachel once again donned the snorkel and mask and armed with the pink scraper, went over the side to get rid of them. This was really funny as the fish, this time, were a little less patient than the last one and were in Rachel’s face pestering her. These were quite brightly coloured fish too – Silver with yellow tails and a blue stripe along the sides. The scraping only took around ½ hour this time but rowing afterwards again felt much smoother. We also rewarded ourselves with another hair wash – we can’t wait until we’re able to jump in the shower/bath every day again. It’s amazing how you take those things for granted. Last night was another beautiful clear night with a trillion stars in the sky. They often seem so low down that it takes a while to work out if they’re stars or the lights of passing ships. As Lin was rowing and scanning the horizon, she was faced with exactly that scenario. Eventually though, another light appeared close by and then the red light showing the port side of the ship. As it appeared to be getting closer and it was near to handover time, Rachel sent out a radio call but got no response. They were also not showing up on the AIS Radar! We swapped over rowing and Lin continued to call for the ship and eventually got a response. It was quite amusing when they asked us to avoid their path to which Lin explained that we were not under power (unless you count girl power) and was in fact just a small rowing boat. After they put a lookout on the port side, they then confirmed they could see us and would be able to avoid our position – phew!! This morning Rachel spotted a whale in the waves behind the boat. She called out to Lin but the whale decided he/she didn’t want to be seen and was not spotted again.After such a long time without wildlife, we appear to be getting more and more each day – perhaps a sign that we’re getting close to land.  We’ve now plugged in our final way point on the GPS which is the finish line. It’s hard to believe we set off nearly 2 months ago now and we are nearly there. It’s going to be such a bag of mixed emotions when we do reach Antigua – jubilation at actually completing the hardest challenge of our lives and seeing our families waving us in and a little sadness as we reach the end of the challenge (albeit not the fundraising as we’re going to continue that until the end of June – we already have a few events lined up). Messages:- Tallie – Oh how we long for a good nights sleep in a bed that’s not moving all the time. It may take a while to get out of the habit of positioning ourselves like star fish to anchor our sleeping position though – not sure what our partners will think of that! Roger – You are kidding about swimming with the turtle – he was enormous and had the biggest beak-like mouth that could chomp through one of our limbs quite easily! Caroline – It’s great to know you’re watching over us and are ready for our arrival in Antigua. Love and Hugs Lin & Rachel. |
|
| Last Updated ( Saturday, 02 February 2008 ) |