Mother Nature, however, decided to have a giggle and throw us a curveball today; during Elaine and Justine’s early morning watch this morning, squall after squall passed over us, having us reefing, un-reefing, re-reefing. We were up and down the helmstation stairs like yo-yos as the wind strengthened then weakened then strengthened again, as the rain started and stopped and restarted and as the waves and swell built and slammed into Paw Paw from every direction, including on her beam, the latter caused by swell propagation from the north to the northwest caused by a distant storm, making for rougher seas, but we soldiered on!
During Roy’s morning watch, with Justine standing in for Paul at the start of the watch, the mayhem continued, but by the time Elaine surfaced at around noon, we had sunny blue skies, moderate winds, the headsail was double-reefed and the starboard engine was purring away to help keep Paw Paw stable, instead of skidding down the waves sideways. Apparently at around 1000 the squalls and associated rain dissipated and by noon we had 150NM to go, giving us an ETA (Expected Time of Arrival) into St Lucia of around noon tomorrow.
A perusal of the latest weather forecasts suggested the stronger winds and higher seas would continue through tomorrow, so there was no respite in sight. We had hoped, with a bit of luck, that the forecasts would be wrong, as they usually are and we would get to enjoy a more peaceful night, our last of our circumnavigation. Sadly, that didn’t happened, but we still moved forward in the right direction.
Everyone, however, looked forward to our dinner tonight; fish and chips, complements of Roy, after Paul caught a reasonably sized wahoo yesterday evening. In the hours leading up to dinner, though, Elaine got to enjoy her quiet time this afternoon after everyone was fed and watered at lunchtime, then trundled off to catch up on lost sleep.
Her quiet time today, however, also had her thinking about what the future holds for us after completing our circumnavigation; will Paw Paw be sold quickly, will we have another sailing season in the Caribbean ahead of us, where will we be for Christmas this year, when will we get to see Keenan, Brooke and the grandchildren, will we be living in Ireland before the new year is out? There were definitely more questions than answers, but at least we knew what our immediate future held following our arrival in St Lucia; CELEBRATIONS, then giving Paw Paw a thoroughly good cleaning inside and out for a job well done, in keeping us safe and sound over tens of thousands of nautical miles!
Tonight, as our last night at sea progresses, Elaine and Justine enjoyed stargazing again, given that we had a relatively clear night sky and, with that, our penultimate day of our circumnavigation drew to a close.
