Hi! Well, we've had a busy fall and winter. We left Gomera Island in the Canaries bound for the Cape Verdes in late November. Gomera is where Christopher Columbus would set off from to the New World, and it felt kind of cool to be loosely traveling in his footsteps. The first 6 days were flat, calm and windless. We motored along on smooth seas, and I was able to cook nice meals without the normal movement encountered when sailing offshore. Four days out, we finally got wind (20-25 knots) from the Easterly directions and we zoomed along nicely into Mindelo, San Vincente (Cape Verdes) on the ninth day.
I saw something really exciting on that leg of our crossing. Early one morning while we were sailing along with no instruments on and the windvane steering, I was on watch and while enjoying the sunrise I saw a pod of whales about 200 yards off the stern. As they approached I realized, “Holy Toledo!!!!!...those whales are ORCAS!!!!!” Talk about COMPLETELY FREAKING ME OUT! I had never, ever seen a Killer Whale in its natural habitat. The closest I had ever come to a Killer Whale was Shamu at Sea World.....let me tell ya folks....totally different experience. I was actually scared. The pod came towards Quintana, in what I can only call an aggressive manner. They were only about 5 feet away, and with both Quintana and the whales surfing the following large seas it felt like, at any moment, they would surf right into our cockpit. I could see their eyes, and their beady, black eyes told me something.....I looked really good for breakfast!!! Okay, here is the really cool part....while I was trying NOT to pee in my pants out of excitement and fear, I was also watching them, and while looking at one particular whale...we'll call him “Humphrey the Hungry” another whale dove right UNDERNEATH US!!!!!! And when I say UNDERNEATH US, I mean RIGHT UNDERNEATH US. But, this was not an Orca. No sir reeee....this whale was greyish white and long. I have no idea what type of whale it was, but at that point I just didn't want it bumping into us....not a pretty thought.....Quintana being “bumped” by a whale. I think...and I'm not a marine biologist, or Jack Cousteau, but what I think is......The white whale was trying to get away from Humphrey the Hungry and that we served as “protection.” And the reason why they came so close to us was because they just didn't know what we were. With all our electronics and instruments off, there was no way for them to understand we were a ship. No electronic waves were bouncing around to warn them off. When we have seen whales in the past, they tend to keep their distance, but on two different occasions, this close contact has happened and both times all electronics were off. Anyway.....way cool, and one of those times that I will always remember.
So, we arrived in the Cape Verdes, and all I can say about that was....we got fuel, we repaired a tear in our sail, and we got to see our friends on Summer Wine. Not much else there, not much else to say.
After three days, we took off again for the longest leg across the Atlantic. It took 19 days to Barbados, and during that time we had good trade winds (nothing less than 15), but fairly large seas/swells for most of it. Our jib was looking pretty worn, so we treated it nicely, and our main sail tore right across, and for the last week of the trip, we didn't have our main sail to use. We went wing-on-wing (jib and staysail) with a poled out reefed jib for most of the crossing, and talked to Herb every night for weather, and human contact. I had an unhealthy craving for Top Ramen noodles and for a whole week ate only that. Paul did really good with his sea sickness, and all in all....the crossing was without major incident and went well. Glad it's over, glad we are in the Caribbean, glad we are almost home!
Barbados was not a good stop. The anchorage SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!! It's rolly, and we had to sleep in our seaberths, and I cooked with a gimbled stove. Needless to say, we took off asap! We went to St.Lucia for a spell, then on to Martinique where we finally repaired the main, the jib and put a new forestay on.
Another bit of excitement for the crew of Quintana. On our way to St. Croix from Martinique we encountered a SEMI- SUBMERGED CATAMARAN!!!! We were sailing along the coast of Guadalupe, and (again on my watch...stuff always happens to ME) I was on watch and saw in the distance a catamaran, but it looked weird. The angle wasn't quite right, and when we got closer I realized the SUCKER WAS SINKING!!!! I woke Paul up, and we slowly motored closer to it. The entire cockpit was submerged as was the back of the hulls. Paul and I called out but noone answered. We decided that Paul would go aboard to see if anyone was inside or hurt, or worse. Ugh...not a pleasant thought. We nosed Quintana right up to her, and Paul jumped onboard the catamaran. Thank God...... there was noone hurt, or dead onboard. We were only a mile offshore, and the sea was calm so we decided to tow her in. During the tow, an inflatable dinghy zoomed out from land with the owner of the catamaran onboard! We were so happy to realize noone had been thrown overboard, and that the owner was safe. He told us he leaves his boat on a mooring and it must of somehow gotten loose. Later he told us he suspected foul play, which would explain why the boat was sinking. You see...there were no holes in the boat, and ALL the hatches were wide open to let air out as it flooded......curious hmmmm? Anyway, after a ten hour delay into Guadalupe, talking with the French Coast Guard and all the rig-a-marow that goes into saving a boat...we took off again bound for St. Croix. Interesting to note: We might get a nice salvage reward from the insurance company, but we aren't holding our breathes.
You all know about the Holidays, and now we are in St. Thomas (United States Virgin Islands) and are looking forward to getting up to the Bahamas for some snorkeling and swimming, and resting.
We miss everyone, and hope all is well with your world.
p.s. Picture number 1: The catamaran Paul and I saved. Picture #2: Sunset offshore/Atlantic.
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