Wednesday 19th May 2010

Doldrums!

The wind has died out and we’re lucky to be travelling at 2-3 knots. And it’s still very hot; probably exacerbated by the lack of wind that normally sends some cool air down the hatches. As it is now, though, there’s little respite from the heat apart from our salt water ‘baths’ which are great at the time but leave a coating of salt on the skin which, when dry, feels like you’ve been sweating anyway.

Sweating! The drenching in sea water (which is lukewarm!!) is lovely to wash off the sweat and grime of the day but within half an hour we’re once again dripping in sweat. We’re drinking about 3 or 4 – or more - litres of water a day each and I swear it just runs straight through our bodies and out our pores. Oh, for a fresh water shower and a loofah to scrub off all the grime for that super clean feeling that our salt water washes don’t fully provide.

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A big sea bird was circling our boat this afternoon, getting closer and closer before being brave enough to try to land on the back of the boat. A couple of attempts, but he changed his mind at the last minute. Then all of a sudden ‘thump’ – a very ungraceful landing right in the middle of the cockpit between Stu and I. The bird sat up, looked a little dazed but seemed quite relaxed being so close to us. So relaxed, in fact, that it decided Stu’s knee looked far more comfortable to sit on than where it was, so over it hopped much to my amusement and Stu’s shock. Turns out that big birds have big claws for gripping so that little novelty didn’t last for long, however it wasn’t at all happy with Stu shooing it off and gave him a good couple of squarks right in his face before staggering to the edge of the boat add falling off.

Two minutes later, take 2, although this time it landed on the lifelines and spent the next 10 minutes figuring out how to balance on a thin flexible railing on a moving boat, before deciding that it would make more sense to sit on a flat bit.

It spent the next couple of hours preening, not at all caring that we were only a foot away. It didn’t much care for the salmon we offered (not that we expected it to, but boredom makes us try anything for amusement!!)