The assumed length of our journey was 20 days. We did the provisioning ourselves (not Captain Morgan), which in my opinion was quite successful, and sailed out of Las Palmas bearing south on a 34 foot Gyb Sea on the 1st of December.

Day 1

We left during a small weather window in between two low pressure systems, so unluckily for us the sea was pretty rough due to the first low that had just passed. We couldn’t escape the seasickness. Being up on the helm was more or less fine, but as soon as I went down to the saloon, it hit me right away. The rest of the day was spent in our new “home”, trying to sleep through seasickness. Pills helped, but made me very sleepy. I woke up at 5 p.m. to get informed that my shift with our captain for watching would be 12 to 4. That mean 12 to 4 at night and the next day in the afternoon.
At night during the watch I was sitting with my jaw dropped all the way down to the floor of the cockpit, not able to stop being amazed by the beauty of millions of stars spread chaotically across the dark, black velvet sky, and by the twinkling in the water produced by the fluorescent plankton. Absolutely magical…and then suddenly I see this fluorescent shining plankton gathering and forming into some sort of silhouette and overtaking the boat. It’s dolphins!!! First watch and they are here to cheer me up and keep me company. They were incredibly close and it was easy to see them, because while moving they create their own plankton shine. Incredible!
I was quite proud and happy with myself standing at the helm, steering our little boat in the middle of the night, alone. Captain Morgan was sleeping quietly near by. Above me, the distant shine of stars, below me, the sparkling plankton and my companion for the next 20 days – a compass. I felt free. I felt like a pirate!

Day 3
Dolphins again! Curly already started whinging and complaining that the dolphins were avoiding him, but here they were coming to show off their tricks in the beautiful light of sunset. I think we saw about 20 of them. Being extremely excited to see them again I forgot about my camera and was just sitting on side of the boat, clapping my hands and whistling. They were jumping completely out of the water, showing off their smooth, but surprisingly small bodies. (The small bodies is because they were actually porpoises, not dolphins)

Tonight I was cooking dinner. Cooking was a duty of each and every one of us, but we didn’t write up a roster, trusting in the sense of responsibility. It worked well and I can’ remember a single time when the meal wasn’t delicious. The experience of cooking on the moving vessels wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. Seasickness didn’t bother me anymore and I even refrained from taking pills.
In the whole, everyone is healthy and happy to be here and now, eating dinner and watching the sunset and dolphins on the lovely evening of December the 3rd.

Day 4 and 5
Yesterday we were observing an incredibly beautiful sunrise…and dolphins with it of course! It seems like they like me. These ones were a lot bigger then the ones we saw the previous times, but less playful. They showed off a few jumps and disappeared into the blue water of the Atlantic.

Days and nights seem to melt in time, the sense of time dissolving in a rolling sleepy kingdom. Last night was so nice to stand at the helm, listen to Beirut on my ipod, look at the stars, the milky way and the little arrow on top of the mast showing which direction the wind is coming from, thus defining which way we’re going to sail. I wish I had one on top of my head for my personal purposes. Life would be much easier. Not that it’s hard now..:)
Tonight it was almost impossible to sleep in our room. The boat bow was jumping on waves like a roller coaster. During my watch I felt pretty flat, because I didn’t sleep enough and we reached some sort of extra humid area. All the bedsheets and clothes got damp in no time. At noon, although it was extremely hot, nothing would dry due to the high humidity. We changed our course from south-west to west. Today we put our bets on the estimated arrival date to Caribbean. Mine is 23 of December, 18.40. I am only going to be happy if we arrive earlier.

Day 6
The best watch times are 8 to 12 or 6 to 10, because you get to see the sunset and the sunrise. These are the highlights of our days. It’s like watching a favourite series on TV at a certain time. Everybody is gathering at the cockpit for dinner at sunset and sometimes our family favourite “The Dolphin Show”.

The weather got better today. It’s sunny and windy. Hopefully it will get all of the dampness out of our clothes and sheets.
The days start to go by faster. The watches too. We are surrounded by a blue desert, where a man would die without fresh water and very little grows on the surface. Big ocean swells are rolling the boat like a baby cradle- up and down, up and down. So powerful and yet so gentle. We live like a big family. We get to know each other. We play dominoes, joke and laugh. It’s good.
It seems like my mind here is not busy with anything else to think about, so there is some free space for unconscious thoughts to come in and surprise me.

Day 7 and 8
Day number 7 started with me baking bread. The funny thing is that instead of yeast I bought baking soda in Spain, because they don’t seem to distinguish between the two, so my bread didn’t raise the way it should have.
Today we took a shower. Because the amount of water is limited on our yacht, there is no water for luxuries like showering or even washing your face in the morning. The solution is obvious – salt water showers. Surprisingly the water in the ocean is amazingly warm and a shower is rewardingly refreshing. The procedure happens like this – you take a bucket or a bottle, fill it with lots of water and then spill it all out on yourself, screaming with surprise. Fun fun fun!

Day 9 -10
Everything is nice and quiet. We are like a big family – sharing and caring. We cook and bake bread. It started to come out better, although still it’s more like turkish flat bread rather than fluffy crispy loaf…
Saw lots of flying fish. Never thought it can fly so far! The crazy creatures jump out of the water and land on board in an attempt to commit suicide. Sometimes it hits you in the middle of the night, which is so freaky!
We covered almost 700 nautical miles so far. 1700 more until Antigua… Hopefully we will get there in two weeks. Yesterday we had strong winds – a little scary, but exciting. I think I can steer the boat pretty good through big ocean swells.

Every sunset and sunrise makes me feel like I’m in a fairy tale, like it’s all unreal and I’m dreaming about it. I am proud of myself and joyful. I love watching golden reflections in the iron blue water, dark silhouette of the boat and ropes. Listening to Boards of Canada during sunrise is wonderful!

Day 11-12
I have a lot of weird, surreal dreams…which is surprising because it isn’t easy to sleep. If the wind is from starboard, which it normally is, then I have to resist myself from rolling to the other side of the bed, because the boat is healing so much. From that I wake up with sore and tired shoulders. To the contrary, when the wind is from the port side – I am the one getting good sleep!
What were our days filled with? I think the main activity for us was eating. You wake up to make breakfast and then half a day think about or discuss with the others what to have for lunch and after lunch everyone is discussing who is cooking what for dinner. Some domino games and a lot of reading. Most of our discussions were about where we are and how long until we get to land. It seemed like we had so much time, but nevertheless, I didn’t manage to do everything I had planned to do or to read.

Day 12-13
The wind died down today, which allowed us to try out the cruising chute. It was very spectacular when we raised it and it filled with wind and shone it’s bright colours on the background of a dark blue sky…even though it fell in the water, because we raised it too slow. Everything comes with experience! At least it gets dry straight away in the wind and sun.

We almost (almost!!) caught a fish too! A big dolphin fish, or so we think. We were fighting with it for a long time. The boat was going at 6 knots and we were trying to pull the hand line in slowly. The fish was jumping out of the water and struggling for survival. When it was a meter away and we stretched out our hands to grab it – off it went. We only got our rubber calamari and empty hook. Big disappointment! Instead of delicious meaty fish we get bony stupid flying fish jumping at us to freak us out. Yesterday we managed to save two of them, who jumped out on the deck in another suicidal attempt. Another two were found on the bow of the boat in the morning. Dead. With their eyes eaten out by birds (or Curly enjoying a midnight snack).

Day 14
The night was stunning! The wind died out and we had to motor all night and morning. This isn’t the reason of my joy, but!..it was so nice and quiet…Serenity, tranquil ocean, millions of stars reflecting in the still water of the Atlantic ocean. I have seen so many shooting stars, that by the end of the night I lost my count. I think I could see at least one every ten seconds – I am not joking! Sometimes I could see two or three at a time falling like in an arranged performance. The moon set at about 2. It was so interesting and so fascinating to see the moon setting down. Normally it’s the sun and it means that the day is over and it’s time to go to home/bar/sleep, but with the moon it’s completely different – with the moon setting the night doesn’t end, it only becomes darker and more mysterious..even a bit empty and sad. It was so huge and red on the horizon. When we were left in the complete darkness with dead calm, it felt like we were moving through the starry sky, not the water. Magical. I felt like I am a tiny tiny, but nevertheless important part of this universe.
We tried to sail in the morning, but no success. There was some wind, but not in the right direction and later on it died away completely. It served us as a good reason to stop completely and…have a swim!!! Yes, at N17۫ 31’, W34۫ 05’, in the middle of the ocean with thousands of fathoms beneath us. It was so pleasant to jump off the deck into warm blue waters. The water was so warm! Unbelievable. Kilometres of water underneath me, staring down into nothingness, it felt a little scary, but mostly exciting and moving. The interesting part is that even though the wind was 0.0, and there were no waves, while we were swimming, the boat slowly floated away. Lucky we had the rope, otherwise we would be away from it in no time. How do some people think to jump in the water, while the boat is moving at 3 knots, just to save a blown away hat?..
After the swim- we motored for about 5 min, when we saw splashes. It was a whale!! First whale to see! What a day- to swim in the middle of the Atlantic ocean with whales! There is no other place where I’d prefer to be right now. I am happy!

Day 15
Booooring! Dead calm – no wind, no waves We looked ourselves up on the GPS and map. Seems like it’s at least another 10 days at sea…and that’s the best case scenario. It’s getting a little tensed. We started to ration the food. No more free chocolate and cheese. Some misunderstandings and tensions building up, because of domestic matters – like who isn’t washing the dishes often enough, who is eating more chocolate that the rest…etc. Nevertheless, it’s still fine and we all try hard to keep our sanity and work things out.
I think I am tired myself, but only because there is no wind and everything seems stale and boring. I want to feel solid ground beneath my feet.
For some days already we have had a companion- a white bird. It’s circling around the boat. She’s a beautiful moderate sized bird with a long tale, like a parrot. It’s weird to see birds like this in the middle of the ocean.

Day 16
Still no wind…At least I get really good sleep and don’t wake up at night struggling not to roll over… Also we have the opportunity to put the hammock up!

We saw more whales!!! They were Minke whales. Beautiful giant smooth animals. It seemed like there were lots of them, but I think it was a couple who circled around the boat out of curiosity. They were coming right underneath our boat and breaking the surface right next to us to stare at us. We were staring back. Such a mesmerising creature! I wish I could swim with them…

Day 17
Finally we caught a fish! A wahoo according to Captain Morgan. This is the only good news. We are still motoring. Captain says still 10 days at least till Antigua. I can hear his confident answer to my question before we left Las Palmas- “It won’t take us 30 days..”. How can one having so much experience be so foolishly confident?… Seems like we all start to worry a little bit about our food, diesel and most importantly water supplies. Will it be enough?…Not really, the way we are travelling. Hopefully we will catch more fish…and hopefully there will be rain to get some fresh water.
Oh, Gods of wind and rain, please show us your power!

Day 18
Hurray! Hurray! We’ve got 20 knots of wind! We go at 290 degrees and we caught another fish! A dolphin fish, bigger than the last one. Perfect day! this fish resembles chicken so much, even the raw meat looks like chicken meat. Delicious too.

Also we almost caught a seagull yesterday. Silly bird was hunting and thought our bate was a real calamari. We thought the bird must have swallowed the hook, because it wouldn’t let go of the bait. We started to take in the line and when I was about to grab the bird to help it and set it free it flew off. What happened is that it was fighting for it’s prey until the last minute. Poor hungry bird!…
I never thought the ocean could be as still as yesterday. Not a wave, not a ripple. The surface is so still and smooth, you can almost see your reflection in it. It looked as if it wasn’t water at all, but quicksilver. In a couple of hours this serene surreal environment would transform into foam, white seahorses and 5m waves. Mind blowing! The ocean is constantly changing. Sometimes you get waves coming in two directions at once. They can be at 90۫, in which case you may be trying to surf one set of waves whilst trying not to get thrown around by the second set, or they may be at 180۫, which just makes it confusing to know what’s going on.

Day 19 and 20
Yesterday I felt very homesick. I think I am getting tired of the journey. I would love so much to be at home – with snow falling down, candles and mulled wine. Cold feet and the smell of oranges and cinnamon…
The wind died off a little. We got the spinnaker out again. Pretty. We are moving slower, but with consistent speed. It’s getting hotter and more humid. Tropics. Last night I saw a lunar eclipse. The shadow of the Earth slowly crawled on the moon. The moon would turn it’s colour from pale yellow to thick orange and red. Never in my life have I seen anything like it. Wonderland!
Five days more…Hopefully will be there on 24 or 25th…

Day 21
Early in the morning, we watched the sky and ocean turn from darkness to light as the sun rose slowly behind us. There was no bright red, orange or pink colours, just pale pastel orange and yellows spreading across the soft clouds. If an artist could capture this image on canvas, his life would be complete. Meanwhile, the 4m ocean swells were approaching us from our starboard side. We climbed up and down them like ever changing rolling hills. The big waves felt majestical. A gentle but steady 12 knots of wind kept us at 5 knots and on course. What a perfect start to the day,

Day 22
I never thought that on the 22nd of December at 5.30 a.m. Caribbean time I would find myself lying on the foredeck with my feet hard against the metal rack, trying to balance myself so that I don’t slide off the boat into the rustling waters of the Atlantic as the boat is healing and bouncing wildly over the waves. It’s pitch black and it’s a couple of hours until sunrise. The rain is so intense and hard that it hurts my face and I can’t see a thing because my eyes are flooded with the amounts of water falling down from the sky. Precious fresh water. If not for the spinnaker I would run inside to grab my shampoo to finally have that fresh water shower…but the Spinnaker. We had to pull it down, when the wind picked up to 25-27 knots we had to wake Curly to help us. So there I was lying down on the deck, completely wet with colourful spinnaker in one hand, or should I say around and under one hand. The spinnaker halyard in the other, trying to figure out which position to take to click the halyard on to the ring and not to fall in the water, at the same time holding the colourful sail, that is trying to escape from my hands with the help of 27 knots wind. Curly pulls me out of my chaotic thoughts with a shout, calling for someone to realease the red sheet, desperate to pull in the last of the spinnaker which is billowing in the wild winds. It’s almost impossible to hear what anyone’s saying because the wind and the water are so loud. Adrenalin is beating hard in my chest, tickling my belly, but it isn’t the adrenalin of fear to die, it is the adrenalin of feeling to be alive! Eventually we readjusted, turned and stretched. Got the halyard on, Sam passed us the bag for the spinnaker. We stuffed it in as quick as we could, still clinging on to anything we could reach, and finally it was over.
After the storm passed, me and Sam were left alone to finish off our watch, wet and miserable without the ability to even have a hot cup of tea, because the gas went out and we had to change the bottle. Only the spectacular sunrise was trying to keep us warm with it’s colours. After two hours, when the watch was over, we changed into dry clothes and had a cup of tea, when we got a visit from our beloved friends – dolphins! I was sitting right on the bow of the boat, clapping and whistling to cheer the dolphins. They were extremely happy and rolled around in the water showing off their ability to swim faster than the boat at any time. I saw a mummy and a baby dolphin synchronised in their swimming and trick making. So sweet! Good morning world!

Day 23
More rain, but in a good way. We had the main sail reefed, which meant the rain was running down the sail and collecting in the bottom. Tina and I put on our bikinis and started bucketing it out into our water bottles. We collected about 80 litres, more than enough to see us to land. This was very timely, because with our diesel supplies almost diminished, there would be no more motoring, even if there’s no wind, because we need to run the engine an hour a day just to charge the batteries for our instruments to run.

Day 24
It’s Christmas! The wind yesterday was very good. We were making 6.5-7 knots. At night when the full moon was showing through the clouds, dolphins came to visit again. I was happy to see them as always, but even more so, because with their presence it gives us hope that the land isn’t far away now.
Since it’s Christmas we decided to do something special- pancakes! I was happy to commit to cooking and I think it was pretty good. Judging by our speed and location we will be in Antigua in two days. Everyone’s spirits went up with the wind and christmas pancake atmosphere!

Day 25 (Curly made me add this bit)
Because the majority of us on the boat were European, Christmas was celebrated on the 24th, a day early according to Curly and Captain Morgan. So for their English Christmas Curly cooked up an English breakfast using whatever he could manage to find. Lunch consisted of all sorts of snacks and delicious bits, again almost everything delicious left on the boat. Dinner was . The end of the strangest Christmas ever.

Day 26
We are getting closer! wooo-hooo! I can see the land! I can smell it. How I missed it! Hopefully we will be there by the evening.
Last night we saw dolphins again! They really love me, don’t they? :))

We got into Antigua. It feels good to be close to land. All it’s smells and sounds. What’s the first thing you do when you reach land? Immigration and customs? No, straight to the bar, walking funny with sea legs, to have a cold beer. What an epic journey. Cheers, we made it!

Предположителная длителность путешествия 20 дней. Мы запаслись водой и едой, играми и книгами и вышли в сторону юга на 34 футовой яхте Gyb Sea.

День 1

Первый час после того как мы вышли из порта началась морская болезнь. Она началась в ту же секунду как я спустилась в салон. В первый день с погодой нам не очень повезло, т.к. только прошёл ураган и море всё ещё было взволнованным. Морская болезнь не отпускала ещё три часа. Таблетка меня спасла, но после неё сразу захотелось спать и я удалилась в своё новое место жительства, которое выглядит вот так:

и проспала до 5-ти вечера.

В первый день мы сделали расписание на дежурство и получилось, что пара стоит за штурвалом по 4 часа с 8-ю часами отдыха. Каждый день днём мы вставляли ещё двух часовую смену, так чтобы получалось что смены постепенно менялись.

Меня назначили на смену с 12 до 4. Это днём и ночью. До вечера я лежала пластом, в горизантальном положении, т.к. так морская болезнь проходит легче.

Ночью на вахте с нашим капитаном Морганом я сидела разинув рот на миллионы звёзд, рассыпаных на чёрном бархате неба и на отражение этих блестящих звёзд в воде- планктон разбиваемый бортами лодки, вспыхивает в воде фосфором и тянется волокой за лодкой…и вдруг, я смотрю в воду и эти блестяшки в воде начинают гореть боллее интенсивно и обгонять лодку. Это дельфины! Так близко- можно рукой дотянутся! Дельфины создают свой планктоновый блеск, заигрывая двигаются блестящими приведениями под водой. Сколько их было! Просто волшебство!

И вот я, девочка по имени Даша, стою за штурвалом яхты. Ночью. Одна. :)Капитан дремлет рядом. Надо мной небрежно рассыпаны звёзды, подо мной мигает фосфором плактон и горящий компас, мой единственный друг во время долгих часов предстоящего путешествия.

Необъяснимое чуство свободы…Я пиратка!

День 3

Опять делфины! Остальные ребята уже начали расстраиваться, что дельфины показались только мне в первый день, но они удивили всех своими трюками на закате. Их было штук 20. Один закат чего стоил, а тут ещё дельфины. От восторга я забыла о камере и сидела на борту хлопая в ладоши, подбадривая дельфинов свистками. Дельфины были нам рады так же как мы были рады им. Они выпригивали целиком из воды по одному и стаями. В надежде что один из них выпрыгнет и дотронется холодным носом до моей руки я держала руку вытянутой над водой, но нет, они хоть и весёлые, но стеснительные. Удивительно на сколько они маленькие!

Кроме того, я готовила сегодня ужин. Готовка еды по умолчанию касается всех и каждого, но расписания мы не делали. Таблетки я больше не пью от морской болезни- привыкла. В остальном все здоровы и вроде счастливы быть здесь и сейчас с дельфинами, пересекая Атлантику, на закате пятничного вечера 3 декабря.

День 4 и 5

Вчера был неописуемо красивый рассвет…и конечно делфины! Они меня любят. Эти были значительно больше чем предыдущие, но и менее игривые. Они повыпендривались большимы прыжками и были таковыми.

Дни начинают сливаться в одно целое, качающиеся сонное царство. Прошлую ночь на вахте было отлично- слушать Бейрут, смотреть на звёзды, млечный путь и на стрелочку на мачте, определяющую откуда дует ветер и соответсвенно куда поидёт лодка. Заветная стрелочка..мне бы такую для личных целей. В эту ночь в нашей каюте, на носу спать было не возможно- нас бросало из стороны в сторону. На смене было кисло, т.к. я не выспалась и нас, точнее мы настигли какое-то супер влажное место. Вся одежда стала сырой через полчаса. Днём в 12, очень жарко. Мы поменяли курс с южно-западного на западный. Поставили наши ставки на дату прибытия на Карибские- моя 23 декабря, 18.30. Если мы прийдём раньше, я только буду рада. Чем себя занять в эти дни?..

День 6

Самые лучшие часы для вахты- это с 8 до 12. Сегодня погода улучшилась. Солнечно и ветренно. Надеюсь вся влага выветрится из салона и одежды.

Дни идут быстро. Вахты тоже. Вокруг синяя пустыня. Большие океанские волны качают лодку, как на атракционе, но более мягко, перекатываясь с одной горки на другую. Вверх и вниз, вверх и вниз…Мы живём большой дружной семьёй. Узнаём друг друга лучше. Шутим и смеёмся.

Чем дальше и дольше я от дома, тем больше я по нему скучаю. Каким-то интересном образом картинки и сцени всплывают из моего сознания. Наверное потому что ум не занят ничем. При чём это не просто визуальное видение, а физическое, сопровождаемое какой-то специфической эмоцией, чуством…даже запахи всплывают…Свет на кухне, когда идёт снег- волшебный спокойный… Серое небо и дорога в школу.. Каркающие вороны весной, слякоть…Запах дерева на даче. Нарды. Запах солнца на коже. Мама на кухне делает кофе в арабке. Сканворды на столе…запах сырости в подъезде..

Любовь.

Мельбурн тоже как ни странно всплывает в моей памяти. Church st, цветы, много солнца. Свобода, уверенность. Усталость после йоги.

Как- будто моя обыденная жизнь была наполнена большим смыслом и эмоциями, чем она наполнена сейчас, когда я на грандиозном этапе моей жизни- приключения, новые страны, люди…а внутри иногда ужасно пусто. Наверное мне нужно опустится на землю…добавить в жизнь немножко дёгтя, чтобы опять ценить сладость мёда.

День 7 и 8

Седьмой день начался с тем, что я испекла хлеб!  Думаю вместо дрожжей мне продали пищевую соду, поэтому хлеб не очень поднялся, но тем не менне вышел очень вкусным.

Сегодня мы опять принимали душь. Об этой процедуре я ещё не писала. Т.к. воды у нас только для питья и готовки еды, душь был исключён. Значит душь у нас был солёный. Пристёгиваешь себя к жилету и к лодке и поливаешь себя тёплой атлантической водичкой из ведра. Хорошо и свежо!

Ночью, пока мой партнёр “рулил”, я уснула. Вода на меня влияет странно, очень странные сны снились.

День 8-10

Всё хорошо и спокойно. Мы как большая семья- sharing and caring. Готовим, печём хлеб. Начинает что-то получатся. Видели летающую рыбу. Безбашенное создание- выпрыгивает из воды прям на лодку- только успевай уворачиваться.

Мы прошли уже примерно 700 миль. До Антиги осталось 1700 миль. Планируем дойти за две недели. Вчера был сильный ветер- страшно, но захватывающе! Мне кажется у меня хорошо получается вести судно по большим волнам.

Каждый рассвет и закат я ощущаю себя в сказке. Вижу себя со стороны. Горжусь собой и радуюсь себе. Отражение золотого света заката на воде, тёмный силуэт яхты и канатов. Как будто я видела это всё во сне. В одном из тех снов, когда просыпаешься с неописуемым чуством лёгкости и счастья.

Сегодня на рассвете стояла за штурвалом под Boards of Canada и BT. Счастье!

День 11-12

Мне снятся удивительные сны. Очень много и очень запоминающиеся…что есть странно, т.к. спать не легко. Если ветер со страборта, то мне всё время нужно лежать в определённой позе, чтобы  не перекатыватся на вторую часть кровати. Получается, что плечо затекает и потом ноет всё утро. Зато, когда ветер с порта, вот тогда выссыпаюсь я!..что к сожалению редко.

Что мы делали весь день? Утром перед рассветом ты думаешь о том чтобы съесть на завтрак, потом можно почитать книжку или поиграть с кем-то в домино, потом все вместе думаем то том, что приготовить на обед и после обеда все думают об ужине. Смешно, но главные события наших дней на лодке были в основном приёмы пищи, обсуждение сколько нам ещё осталось до земли, где мы и хватит ли нам воды. Времени было много, но как ни странно я не успела сделать всё что я хотела сделать…

День 12-13

Мысли и сны о доме меня вроде бы начинают покидать. Теперь я терзаюсь моим извечным вопросом…”Я водолей,” блин.

Ветер сегодня утих, зато мы испробовали cruising chute. Было очень красиво, когда мы его медленно начали поднимать и он рассправился разными цветами на синем фоне неба…хоть он и упал в воду, т.к. мы его слишком медленно подняли. Но ничего, на ветру всё быстро сохнет.

Зато вчера мы почти (!!!) поймали рыбу. Большая рыба дельфин. Мы её тянули за собой долго и вот вот, но… она была в метре от нас, когда она ушла! Какая досада! Вместо вкусной и мясистой рыбы нам на борт выпригивают летучие рыбы-самоубийцы. Двух удалось спасти, ещё двух нашли утром с выеденными глазами.

День 14

Ночь была превосходной! Ветер совсем умер, поэтому мы всю ночь и утро шли на моторе. Это не причина моей радости конечно же, но! такая тишина…Тишина и спокойствие, миллион звёзд сделали эту ночь особенной. Падающих звёзд было столько, что не возможно было сосчитать. Каждые 10 секунд- не вру!- видела две или даже три одновременно! Луна зашла примерно в 2 ночи. Багровая, большая луна. После её заката стало очень темно, но не страшно, а как-то уютно, как под большим тяжелым одеялом. Казалось что наша яхта идёт не по воде через океан, а по усыпоному звёздами небу. Волшебно. Я чуствовала себя частью этой прекрасной необьемлемой вселенной. Мааааленькой, но гордой частью. Connected.

Утром мы решили попробовать паруса, но неудачно- ветра было почти достаточно, но в неправильном направлении. Чуть позже он и вовсе умер и мы решили по такому поводу искупаться.

Как клёво со всего разбега прыгнуть с борта в неописуемо тёплую воду Атлантического океана! Подо мной 3000м голубой бездны, километры воды…страшно, захватывает дух! Казалось бы ветра 0, волн минимум, а лодку всё таки уносит течением. Хорошо у нас была веревка за что держатся, а то ушла бы яхта, не успеешь оглянуться. Как некоторые люди думают идя со скоростью в 3 узла, что прыгнуть за борт за упавшим ведерком- эот мол можно, это ничего, я лодку догоню потом. :))Через 15 мин, мы завели мотор и пошли дальше, когда в 30м по борту мы увидели брызги! Это был кит!!! Вот так денёк! Плавать посреди Атлантического океана с прекрасными гигантами водного мира! Я счастлива! Нету места в этом мире, где я бы предпочла сейчас находиться.

День 15

Скукота! Ветер умер. Посмотрели по карте и GPS, где мы сейчас и подсчитали, что по лучшему сценарию придём в Антигу после Рождества- значит ещё 10 дней в море. Обстановочка накаляется…хотя ничего серьёзного. Еду начали строго делить, чтобы всякие обжоры не съедали весь сыр и шоколад (это я не про себя. :)) ). Немного агрессивных намёков на то что, кто-то моёт убирает, а кто-то на диване книжки читает…Быт!

Я сама устала от безветренной погоды и хочу уже скорей на сушу. Над нами уже который день кружит белая птица. У неё очень длинный хвост- как у попугая. Удивительно и странно как такая птица, преследует нас в открытом океане…

День 16

Ветра всё нету, зато я сегодня очень хорошо спала и почти совсем не просыпалась.

УПД: Мы видели китов! Очень красивые, гладкие огромные морские существа! Казалось их было много, но скорей всего их было всего два и пройдя мимо нас они разворачивались под водой и снова шли сзади лодки, совсем близко к поверхности воды. Они выныривали большим узким носом и разбивали воду брызгами плавником. Такие любопытные! Невероятно, как близко они подходят, если бы я смогла прыгнуть за борт я бы смогла погладить их по гладкой спине…эх!

День 17

Мы поймали рыбу!!! Наконец-то! Это единственная хорошая новость. В остальном всё печально. Ветра всё нет. Идём на моторе. Капитан говорит, что до Антиги ещё 10+ дней. У меня в голове всплывает его уверенный ответ ещё тогда в Лас Палмосе, на мой вопрос “А если мы не дойдём за 20 дней,а за 30?” – “У нас не займёт это 30-ти дней.” Ну-ну. Какая уверенность и глупость. Чуствуется, что все немножко волнуются за воду и еду- хватит ли? Если поймаем ещё рыбу, то хватит! Надеюсь, что дождь будет тоже. О боги ветра и дождя- опрокиньте свой гнев на нас!

День 18

Ура! Ура! У нас 20 узлов ветра! Мы идём по курсу 290. Мы поймали ещё одну рыбу! Удивительно как эта рыба напоминает курицу. Не только вкус, но и само мясо на вид. А ещё мы вчера чуть не поймали чайку! Глупая птица приняла наш резиновый кальмар за настоящего. Уцепилась за него и сидит на леске. Мы подумали может проглотила крючок? Начали забирать леску и когда я уже потянулась чтобы помочь чайке она хоп и улетела как ни в чём не бывало. Оказывается чайка до последнего боролась за свою добычу. Голодная наверное…

Очень штормит!

Никогда не могла подумать что океан может быть таким спокойным как вчера. Вода была похожа на ртуть- гладкая, густая, отражающая облака. Тише чем озеро, ни ряби, ни пены. Как за несколько часов это волшебное спокойствие превратилось в 25 узлов ветра, пену, брызги и волны в 5 метров? Уму не постижимо!

День 19

Всё надоело. Хочу домой! Кажется все устали и хотят скорей на свободу. Мысль о Карибских островах не греет. Хочется домой в снег, в Рождественнские огоньки, запах ёлки, горячее вино и всё такое…эх..

День 20

Ветер немного утих. Расправили спинаккер- красиво. Идём медленнее, но стабильно. Становится жарче и ночью более влажно. Вчера ночью видела лунное затмение. Тень земли медленно закрыла полную луну. Луна поменяла жёлтый сияющий цвет на красно-оранжевый матовый. Никогда не видела ничего подобного..

Ещё 5 дней..Надеюсь будем там 24-25…

День 22

Никогда не могла представить, что ранним утром 22 декабря, примерно в 5.30 по Карибскому времени утра, я буду полулежать на носу яхты, упершись ногами в металичский борт яхты, пытаясь балансировать и не соскользнуть в сумасшедшую бурлящую, шипящую воду Атлантики..В одной руке или точнее под рукой, вокруг руки мокрый спинаккер, поощряющий своими яркими цветами. Мы его только что стянули на борт при ветре 25-27 узлов. В другой руке у меня от фал спинакера, который мне каким-то чудным образом нужно закрепить на кольце. Мне в лицо почти больно бьёт дождь- беспощадный ливень драгоценной пресной воды. Ливень был таким сильным и интенсивным, что если би не спинакер я бы побежала за мылом и шампунем. Кто-то вырывает меня криком из хаотичного потока мыслей. Адреналин разрывается щикоткой в груди, но это не адреналин риска и страха за жизнь, это адреналин ощущения жизни! Я живу!

После пережитого шторма мы с Сэмом остались продолжить нашу вахту в печальном и мокром настроении. По закону подлости газовый балон закончился и мы остались без горячего кофе или чая. Только потрясающий рассвет на фоне штормого облака согревал своими тёплыми красками. Через два часа, когда смена закончилась и мы наконец переоделись в сухую одежду, поменяли балон, нас навестили наши любимые гости- дельфины!!! Я сидела на самом носу лодки и хлопала моим друзьям, которые делали трюки в метре от носа в прекрасной голубой воде! Играючи, они поворачивались на бок, чтобы посмотреть кто это там свистит и хлопает в ладоши. Видела маму и дельфина и baby дельфина- они плыли, синхронно выпригивая из воды. Ещё чуть-чуть и я бы прыгнула в воду к ним! Доброе утро мир!

День 24

Рождество! Вчера ветер был супер супер. Мы шли в среднем под 6,5-7 узлов. Ночью, когда луна явилась через облака, дельфины опять пришли к нам посоревноваться в скорости и как всегда выиграв удалились.

Сегодня Рождество и я буду готовить всем блины.

Судя по нашему положению и более менее стабильной скорости мы будем в Антиге через двое суток. Первым делом в душь и звонок домой! Настроение у всех улучшилось с ветром и предвкушением блинов на ужин.

День 26

Мы приближаемся!!! Ура ура! Земля земля! Возможно будем в порту к вечеру. Я так хочу домой всё же…Может на первый самолёт и в Рижку? Скорей всего нет.

Вчера ночью опять приходили дельфины. Как же они меня любят и любят, когда мы идём быстро под 7 узлов. Как всегда они делали трюки и сальто.

УПД: Мы прибыли в Антигу! Какие запахи! Как я соскучилась по запахам земли, деревьев, цветов! Ступив на берег мы первым делом пьяной походкой моряка дошли до бара и выпили по холодному пиву. Хорошо!

Остальные фотки тут.

Another short flight and we were descending toward Gran Canaria. From here the picture was not at all what we were expecting. A green tropical paradise it most definitely was not. It is a brown, dry, harsh, rocky Island, generally peaked at the centre and tapering down in all directions. Our primary reason, however, was not for a tropical holiday, or in fact to explore the island at all. We were staying in Las Palmas with the intention of hitch hiking on a boat across the Atlantic to the Caribbean.

Most people think that this sounds like a pretty crazy idea. I tend to agree with them. But then I thought, what’s the worst that can happen – we get stuck in a hurricane, become shipwrecked on a desert island and I get to be Gilligan. We arrived in early November, about 2 weeks before a massive rally of 250 boats known as ARC would be leaving destined for St Lucia. The method was to put up an advertisement on notice boards and hang out at the Sailor’s Bar and try to talk to as many Captains as possible, to find out if they needed crew to assist them in their crossing. Unfortunately we were far from the only people with this idea. We found it much much easier to meet fellow hitch hikers than captains, particularly captains with space on board. This was because most of the boats had already organised their crew 2 months earlier with the aid of internet sites. The hostel we stayed in, Alcaravaneras, although fairly disorganised, were very friendly, relaxed, accommodating and helpful. But most importantly it had a fantastic roof top terrace adjacent to the kitchen, where we met and made good friends with many other hitch hikers. It was amazing hearing everyone’s different stories as to how and why they had come. It also made the pain of hanging around doing nothing productive, whilst trying to look for a boat a lot more enjoyable. We must have made friends with about 30 of the possibly 100 hitch hikers. Some were lucky and found boats leaving prior to the arc. A smaller group of fortunate people found space on the arc. The rest were left to find other options after the arc departed. We were in the last group. This didn’t turn out too badly for us though. We found a captain, with a boat, looking for 5 people, for a relatively small contribution to all costs. With our extensive networking previously undertaken we assembled our crew and went for it. Our departure was set for about 24/25th November.

But more about that shortly. For now I’ll talk about our 3 weeks on the Island. We only managed to get out of the city for one day. We hired an 8 seater van and filled it with friends from the hostel. We drove to the South of the island to Maspalomas and Playa del Ingles. It was far from my kind of paradise, but a must see nonetheless. We walked past all of the touristy shops and cafes to the beach and it was rammed. We looked left and could see people for kilometres. We looked right and again people as far as you could see. There was no point walking anywhere, so we dropped our things and went straight in. The water was beautiful, warm and clear. Yet for some reason, out of the 5000 or so people on the beach, there was never more than a handful of people in the water. Most of the people here were tourists of the retirement age, who come from the colder parts of Europe to spend a few months of doing nothing other than sun bathing. Not an attractive beach on a couple of levels. The other thing that this place did have, which was pretty cool, was sand dunes that stretched maybe 2 km by 1.5 km. They weren’t as awesome as our Mongolian ones, but were still very cool and created interesting ever-changing formations.

Lunch was surprisingly too cheap to pass up (1/2 chicken, chips and salad for $6), and then we headed for the top of the mountain. The drive up was brilliant, working our way up the rocky faced valley covered in caves. I would love to go exploring around there properly. You could tell that these would have been residences at some stage and possible still get infrequent use today. A little bit further along the dry nothingness and deep down in a gorge was a proper tropical paradise. Although only a couple of hundred metres long, this place had some sort of unique micro-climate, or soil type, or perhaps water supply that made it very different to the rest of the surrounding area, smothered densely with lush green big leaved plants. We made it to the top, to the start of the walking track to Roku Noblu, or Knob Rock as I prefer, just in time to catch the end of the sunset. Watching the golden-orange colours slowly fade from above the clouds, with jagged mountains poking through, is arguably the best sunset so far. I went for a run along the track to the peak where the view was very similar, but struggling for oxygen in the high altitude (well, 2000m is high for me) makes it feel more rewarding. The two Polish guys went off exploring further in the dark, not very smart, even by my standards. They returned after half an hour and that was pretty much the end of a successful day.

I’ll take this opportunity to mention the abnormality in the time space continuum that exists in this area. There really is something strange about this island that makes it difficult to achieve much in a day. A typical achievement for a day may be taking your washing to the laundry, going to the beach, moving to a different hostel, or simply cutting your toenails. Sometimes these tasks can take up to 3 days. Of course 4 hours of siesta doesn’t help and makes life very frustrating.

Having the Arc in town is a fair bit of a fiesta in itself, but if you haven’t realised already, when Dasha and Curly are in town there has to be a real party. Las Palmas chase WOMAD – World of Music, Art and Dance, from Thursday until Sunday. We have been to WOMADelaide and it was brilliant, held in the botanical gardens. Unfortunately, Spain doesn’t have such greenery, so it was held across a couple of Plazas. This was a much smaller version than the Adelaide one, but we still managed to catch some good bands. Highlights were ‘The Creole choir of Cuba’, ‘Hanggai’, a Chinese rock band using traditional instruments and throat singing, Muntu Valdo, a one man band, who by recording live and playing back riffs, beats and vocals sounds like half a dozen people on stage, and An Eastern European gypsy rock band ‘Balkatalan experience’, with lyrics like ‘Hir ai kam, hir ai go!’ and ‘Disco disco partizani!’ The best thing about a Spanish fiesta is that you don’t get the exorbitant beer prices, stalls selling cans for $2, or you can grab take aways from 100m away for $1.40. Many groups of friends opt to buy a bottle of spirits and mixers to share and this is also perfectly acceptable.

The Arc held an official opening, which consisted of a dodgy marching band accompanied by jugglers and stilt walkers (interestingly, the closing ceremony held one week later consisted of a dodgy marching band accompanied by jugglers and stilt walkers) followed by a dinghy race. We missed the dinghy race, but two of our friends entered on a raft which they built from a broken pallet and as many plastic bottles as they could find in bins. They came flat last. At the end of the race, which happened to be in a petrol station, there was a party! It was pretty funny – everyone dancing around to bad disco music in the middle of the day, buckets of water being thrown around everywhere and beers being consumed. When siesta time came, the music stopped, metal roller doors came down and everyone dispersed within 5 minutes. Mark, an Aussie skipper, suggested that we go to his boat to keep the flow rate continuous. Matt, a Pome skipper, upped the ante and we all agreed to go drink-sailing on his 50 foot catamaran, for our first Atlantic sailing experience. We sailed out for about 40 mins, saw Lanzerote from 100 km away, turned around and sailed back in. We drank some more beer in the port then went back to the petrol station for the dinghy trophy presentation (Mark, Matt and Glyn won) and of course more beer.

We made it to the beach a couple of times. It’s not the nicest, particularly the Northern end which is packed with hotels on top of hotels. The beach in this area is protected by a reef, meaning no waves, no fun. Right the way along the 2 or 3 km of beach front has been built up with a concrete wall to form a boulevard, leaving very little dry sand on a high tide. The sand itself is partly yellow partly black, making it not the most beautiful beach in the world. To the South end is where the waves are, the locals are and the run down and derelict buildings for the squatter are – much nicer. We saw some good surfing and got in some excellent body surfing ourselves. Sam and I also had one night out in the area which was pretty cool. We were walking along the almost desired boulevard at about 2ma, when a random guy from Chile befriended us and showed us where the action was. Just 100m around the corner was a massive Plaza, with 2 bars pumping out music, one each side. Both bars were busy, but so was the square itself, with people from the squat selling cheap icy cold beers as their only source of income. It really is possible to live for free in our current society. Squatting, dumpster diving, a few hours socialising on weekends and the rest of your time is free to go surfing, juggling or do whatever you want.

The rest of our time we spent either on the roof top of the hostel chatting or at the sailors bar chatting. Yes we chatted with lovely people, but we suffered severely form Jellyfish Syndrom, the feeling of floating around doing nothing, achieving nothing.

It was fantastic when we finally agreed to cross with Captain Morgan, mainly because it meant 5 of us who were already friends  would be together for the 3 weeks. Our first step for the preparations was, of course, to go sailing. We went out for a couple of hours to watch the start of the Arc. The coast guards kept chasing us and yelling at us in Spanish to get out of the way of the race. Good to see our captain knows whats going on. On the way back in he went to start the engine to navigate our way through the scores of boats in the harbour and it failed. This meant that while the two most experienced sailors were truing to fix the engine I was left at the helm to sail backwards and forwards, telling the others to pull ropes when we had to change tack and avoiding both yachts and commercial ships! Pretty sweet. The next most important item to prepare was our provisioning. It’s pretty crazy trying to figure out what 6 people are going to eat and drink for 3 weeks (minimum) with no corner stores if you run out of anything, not even a neighbour for a spoonful of sugar. An $850 trip to the supermarket and we hope we have everything.

The last thing to prepare is the weather. This is a little more difficult. In fact, all we could do was look at the forecasts and choose our departure date. The whole reason that the Arc leaves at this time is because it’s the start of the trade winds, that is, the wind typically blows from East to West, with very little chance of low pressure systems, more commonly known as storms, developing. However, as our preparations were underway, a low was on its way. We had to delay for about a week. As the system was about to clear, there was a second on it’s way, with a small opening of opportunity for departure. With what looked like a third system developing across form America, we decided to risk the chance of some undesirable winds and go for it. With Christmas just around the corner, we left on the 1st of December at 14.00…..

I have been to Croatia before, and I liked it, so I thought I should take Dasha there for her to enjoy it also. We had a great reason to go too, Oatesy’s birthday! Big Jimmy was also on board for the occasion.

We flew into Split and found ourselves a private apartment for the lot of us, right amongst the locals and the beautiful but slightly crumbling old buildings, just 2 minutes walk from the walled old city. And this old city, is an absolutely stunning old city. It’s a lot of fun wandering down the little streets and alleys admiring the big old stone structures and paving, but finding a quieter place away from all of the tourists (and there is a LOT) which is half in ruins gives it a very unique atmosphere.

Still, Oatesy’s birthday is Oatesy’s birthday, and when it’s Oatesy’s birthday you go drinking… a LOT. We made our way to the nightclubs by the beach. The music was terrible (little did we know that this terrible music was about to be repeated thrice daily for the next week or so) but the good time and fun levels were through the roof. Was a big night, which caused decent hangovers, which were not ideal in the 39 degree heat. That next evening was a quiet one and is when we managed to take most of the beautiful photos you can see. My hand was getting itchy.

Saturday, all aboard! We set off on our 7 day boat cruise. Well, to be a little more accurate, 7 day booze cruise, with a whole heap of other Aussies, the occasional Kiwi, 2 Saffas and 1 Latvian. A total of 10 boats, about 300 people in all. The water in Croatia is arguably the clearest salt water in the world, brilliant for jumping off the boat every time it stops. We pulled into port that night in Hvar. Kicked off the evening at a seafood restaurant, where Dasha and I enjoyed a octopus salad entrée, an absolutely awesome seafood platter (mackerel gets the 2 thumbs up), plus a few beers for a grand total of 50 bucks. Excellent. Then the night really started, and kept going for quite a while. Nautica and Riva were the 2 main bars. In the latter, you could purchase a ‘helmet shot’, which meant you had to put on a helmet, get bashed around the head for a bit, then drink your shot. Gives it that bit of extra kick to really get your money’s worth. It didn’t stop my hand itching though. When I awoke the next morning (maybe it was morning) on the boat I found out that Jimmy and Oatesy were not aboard. It wasn’t long until we pulled up for a dip about 200 metres away from another boat and heard the shout ‘HEY, CURLY!’ After boozing on with a French Curly and his mates aboard a private yacht, they had to catch one of the other boats in our fleet, because we had departed at 6.00 as promised.

Trsenik. It was official – the disease was back. I was instantly diagnosed by our cruise manager as having contracted FHS (Fat Hand Syndrome). The symptoms are that you have one hand fatter than the other. The only known cure is to go scuba diving. This was my first wreck dive. It was a war boat that sank about 50 or 60 years ago. It looked like a war boat that had sunk about 50 or 60 years ago. The big torpedoes were pretty cool, the water was absolutely freezing (really), but other than that it was not particularly memorable, especially with the poor visibility, which we were assured was a one off. So much of a one off that the dive leader offered to take us for a spin in tubes behind his speed boat, 3 at a time. That was fun. It did get cut a little short though, when one of the girls did the biggest backflip stack ever, smashing her jaw on my head as she went over the top. She lived. A romantic dinner for two right by the water was the perfect finish for the day. Almost perfect, my FHS hadn’t got any better.

We arrived at Dubrovnik. This is another sensational city. It’s not a largely populated city, but has a VERY large wall around it. This is because back throughout history it actually was a very important and large city for those times. Due to different trade routes setting up elsewhere it never developed into a massive city. The wall has been well maintained, as have the buildings, despite being bombed halfway to the heavens in the 90’s. You can walk around the top of the wall for a hefty fee, or double it and get a guided tour.

Dubrovnik is also famous for it s cliff diving, so Oatesy and I got amongst it. Someone out there has a photo of us jumping, please send it to me. After some more delicious food, the skies opened up and chucked it down for about half an hour. The city became like an ice skating rink for me in my flip flops. Found an Irish bar with some live music, including a kazoo, and then to the Sky bar to finish the night.

Next morning, bloody kiwi wasn’t on the boat, and for some silly reason the captain chose to wait 3 hours before leaving. Turns out he was on another boat. We were late getting to Mljet national park, so hired some bikes so that we could explore a bit further. Jimmy had trouble figuring out that the brakes were on the opposite side and instead of doing a skid like the rest of us went straight over the handle bars and onto the paved road. Poor fella, but hilarious for the rest of us. The island has two nice salt lakes with lots of fish and shellfish, good for snorkelling. There’s also an ancient Benedictine monastery and a church dating from 12th century on an island in one of the lakes. After working up an appetite Jimmy and Oatesy ate a main meal each, shared a massive pizza and then finished off with a plate of pancakes each. Too much for any normal person. We had a quiet evening playing cards back on the boat.

Next stop was Korcula, the birthplace of Marco Polo, and the Marco Polo restaurant. It’s a very beautiful small town, very Croatian built compactly on the hilly coast with tight streets and alleyways twisting up and down. The trusty travel guidebook recommended an awesome little cocktail bar, on top of a tower of the old town wall, for one of the, and I don’t quote, “World’s best sunset”. It was hilarious! So many people cram in there, drink two cocktails, take 73 photos of a not so impressive sunset and then leave. Following that we sheepishly (and I don’t mean shyly) went to Dos Locos for one litre cocktails and then to some other nightclub which was full of smoke and broken glass, also very Croatian.

Not sure what time we got home that night, I mean, morning, but we slept pretty much all of the next day, to wake up to a beer as we were arriving in to Makarska. A few beers on the boat turned into a well known drinking game called Kings, with some of the funniest rules I’ve come across so far, including gecko and never ever. We finally left the boat to go to a nightclub inside a cave, filled with smoke and broken glass, but most disappointingly, a mostly man made cave. We got out of there pretty quickly.

Back to Split. We spent the evening in the most perfect way after a week of boozing – chilling out in the old square, chatting and listening to live music, imagining that this is how people would have been socialising for 1700 years, in the same setting, although today somewhat weathered, still standing strong.

For more photos click here.