Friday, December 12th, 2008
It took until 11:00 to get clearance to leave, then we up anchored and
motored away from Essaouira, there being almost no wind. By mid
afternoon there was a light NW breeze and we started to set sail. By
the time I went on watch at 4:00pm we had all our square sails set and
most of the fore and aft ones as well.
A pod of dolphins came by for a romp in the bow wave around 2:00pm, they are amazing to watch up
close. They can swim much faster than we can sail.
We are now sailing along at 5 knots under a partly cloudy but moonlit
sky. The air is warm and the ship steers beautifully. As the captain
told me when I was on helm “It’s a lovely evening”.
I noticed something interesting tonight. The sea has no smell. There
is no “sea smell” to speak of at all. The smell I had always
associated with the sea is actually the smell of the shore. Interesting
that I just noticed that now. Hopefully that means I’m getting more
comfortable with this sea life thing.
The trip to the Canary islands will take 3-4 days and the weather forecast is for fair winds building over
the next couple of days.
I have galley duty tomorrow so I don’t have to stand our night watch tonight which is sweet. Plus we are
sailing on the starboard tack so the ship heals to port. Now since my bunk is on the port side I will be held
into my bunk instead of risking being thrown out as she rolls.
Thanks for reading.
KJ
P.S. Just finished the breakfast dishes and thought I would write this down before I forget it. Last night
about 3:00am I woke up to an odd sound. It was like a long drawn out squeak but very quiet. At first I
thought it was something moving with the rolling of the ship but after a while it was obviously coming
from the water. My bunk is below the water line so sounds in the water are pretty clear. I think perhaps it
was whales.
Have to keep an eye out today and see if they can be seen.
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