Atlantic Ocean crossing -the final week (#19)

We had some amazing days during our final week out on the ocean. We held our halfway party after swimming in the endless blue and we caught two fish in one day. The highlight of the week was arriving at our tropical destination of course.

Day 22 - We had a quiet night, perfect to catch up on some sleep. The morning was sunny and warm, wonderful. First task of the day was to hoist the spinnaker, which went a little less smooth than the day before because we had to turn it over to starboard tack and the lines got twisted, but we managed to get it up.

Afterwards we opened the enclosure in the back because it was getting too hot behind the plastic. We were very happy with our large solar surface in the back, it provided us with a lot of extra shade on the aft deck.

We changed the clock again, one hour back. Even though it didn’t feel right, it was easier to adapt on quiet days.

We were still seeing flying fish all day long but we were happy that none of them landed on the deck any more. And since a few days we were also seeing a lot of seaweed, large mats of free-floating sargassum.

While we were having dinner we spotted some dolphins approaching the boat. They were still there when we finished dinner and went up to the front deck to watch the sunset. In the evening we all watched a movie together.

Day 23 - After another wonderful night we woke up to another warm and sunny day. The sea was calm and there was little wind so we decided that this was the perfect day to go for a swim. After all we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to swim in the middle of the ocean. The kids were super excited to finally be allowed to swim in the water that we had been surrounded by for the last 22 days. We threw some buoys and floating lines overboard to hold onto, because even with the sails down and the engine off the boat moves on the current and it can be surprisingly fast. I must say it was pretty exciting to swim in 5.000 meters deep water. Under water there was nothing more to see than endless blue, incredible! After swimming we had our postponed halfway party. We made some virgin Mojitos, drank a beer and ate nachos and ice-creams. When it became too hot on the front deck the kids played with the water hose to cool down. It was an amazing day!! For me it was the best day of the entire trip. In the evening we watched another movie together and enjoyed the beautiful sunset.

Every evening we took the spinnaker down and we hoisted it again first thing in the morning as soon as every one was up.

Day 24 - We had motored the entire night because there was almost no wind any more and we were getting anxious to arrive in Martinique. It would be approximately 7 to 8 more days and that was already more than enough, we didn’t want to make the trip any longer by having to wait for the wind. We had been trying to catch a fish for several days already and we were finally lucky. Just after I woke up Sven caught a nice sized mahi-mahi, also widely called Dorado. Delicious, we were having fish for dinner!

I meant to make pancakes for breakfast but because off all the commotion around the fish it was already lunchtime. So pancakes for lunch it was. Our eggs were finished so I made American pancakes without eggs according to a recipe that I found online a while ago and have used several times.

In the afternoon Sven decided to take another swim and meanwhile try to scrub the hulls a bit. Not an easy task out on the ocean.

While we were relaxing afterwards, another fish took the line but we lost it.

But then… just when we started preparing dinner, our fishing rod made the noise we had been waiting for. Another fish had taken the bait and was running away with it, fast and far. This was going to be a big one. Sven immediately struck to set the hook and started the long process of tiring the fish down and reeling it in. We saw it jumping out of the water in the distance. We tried to identify it through our binoculars but it took us a while to be sure it was a tuna. Finally!! This is what Sven had been dreaming of catching here out on the ocean. I don’t remember how long it took to get the fish on board but it was a while. By the time we pulled him on the boat he had died, this definitely made it a lot easier to get him on board. It was quite a large fish, it took us a long time to clean it and cut it up. It was a lot of meat; our freezer was nearly completely full. And can you guess what we had for dinner?

Day 25 - It was a quiet, calm day. No more fishing from now on, we had plenty of fish for a while. The sea was a bit choppier than the previous days and the wind had picked up just a tiny bit, enough to fly the spinnaker again.

For lunch we made tuna salad and fresh bakes bread, it was delicious!

In the afternoon we played boardgames. Around sunset we took the spinnaker down again and prepared for the night. A big swell was coming in from the North so we expected that there might be some more wind during the night. It looked like the calm nights were over.

Day 26 - As the night passed by the sea became even more choppy and in the morning the waves were all over the place again so we all felt miserable. We were already used to the boat being more steady and had almost completely forgotten how hard the waves could be. We hoisted the spinnaker in the morning but had to take it down again after an hour due to some heavy gusts. It was a fight to get it down and Sven burnt his finger on the line.

Other than that it was a day with action nor food, we watched movies and felt seasick almost the entire day.

In the evening we saw a cargo ship passing by on the chart, it had been a week since we had seen another boat.

Day 27 - This day was as boring as the previous one. Still a choppy sea but the wind was a bit more stable so we could use the spinnaker. We played some board games and watched a movie like we had been doing most days. Sven baked some small breads and we had tapas in the evening.

Day 28 - It was a lovely morning. After motoring the entire night it was time to hoist the spinnaker. It didn’t go as smooth as we had hoped. The spinnaker and the lines were twisted so we laid everything out on the deck to untwist before hoisting it again.

We played some more boardgames before noon and Sven prepared some more breads for lunch. In the afternoon we watched a movie and afterwards we had to take the spinnaker down because the wind shifted direction too much. We calculated our fuel consumption and came to the conclusion that we would be able to reach Martinique even without wind. So we didn’t have to worry about using the engine when there was no wind.

We changed the hour once again and decided to do the last hour change when we approached Martinique so we would have the correct time there. It was a difference of six hours with Belgium.

Day 29 - Sven unfurled the gib during the night because the wind had suddenly picked up. Therefore we woke up as soon as there was light to hoist the spinnaker. We had to take advantage of the good wind conditions.

After doing the dishes, again, I made blueberry pancakes while the kids were already watching a movie. Later, for lunch, we ate some of the mahi-mahi that we caught earlier that week. It was a quiet day again. We took down the spinnaker for the night as usual.

Day 30 - We spotted a few cargo ships on the chart which meant that we were getting closer to land. It was an ordinary day like most of the days in the past week. We watched some movies and ate spaghetti. All of a sudden something weird happened, we were sitting around the table when we felt something. By now we were all used to the sound of the waves banging against the hull but this was different. We heard one loud bang and the boat shifted direction a bit and lost some speed. It seemed like we hit something but there was nothing to see in the water and when the moment had passed everything got back to normal. We stayed cautious for a while but nothing happened further. Very weird.

Day 31 - This was supposed to be our last full day at sea. If everything went according to plan we would arrive in Martinique the next day, on Wednesday afternoon.

We prepared to hoist the spinnaker but decided not to eventually because there was too much wind. So we hoisted the full mainsail and gib instead and made good progress.

Looking forward to the next day we put a bottle of champagne in the fridge to cool. And we started cleaning the galley and saloon so we would have less work when we arrived. Afterwards we watched some movies and relaxed a bit on the front deck with a few beers. Except for one beer during our halfway party we hadn’t had any alcohol during the entire trip. I think it was the prospect of arriving that made us want to enjoy a beer.

For our final night we increased the watch again because there were more boats in the proximity and we had the full main sail up so we had to keep an eye on the wind.

Day 32 - We woke up early, excited to arrive in Martinique later that day. At 9:50 a.m. we beheld land.

Sven had just turned on the engine because with the full sails up we couldn’t sail straight to Martinique and we didn’t want to lose any more time. We were so eager to make landfall that we also turned on the other engine.

The kids decided to watch Pirates

of the Caribbean while we approached the islands.

While we were getting closer to Martinique we started to prepare for our arrival. We took down the mainsail, just dropped it and tucked it back in the lazy bag, we would arrange the reef lines later. We washed the enclosure of the flybridge so we could take it off. We took some pictures and enjoyed watching a seabird trying to catch a fish around the boat. Since we hadn’t heard back from customs we decided to anchor next to our friends on sailing-vessel Camerado and take a swim before figuring everything out. Thierry and the kids met up with us in their dinghy to guide us through the reef to the spot where their boat was.

We were very happy to arrive and to see other people after 32 days. We dropped our anchor in the shallow, tropical blue water and were ready to celebrate.

Join us again next week for the story of our arrival at this dream destination.

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