Gibraltar to Tenerife - Day 2

Position 33-0.713N 011-03.857W
Winds 10k Seas 2-3' with NW Swell of 10' or so.
Temp mid 60's and sunny

Its Monday here on JaySeaDee and we continue motor sailing at 235 degrees towards Tenerife. Last nights dinner was the final Thanksgiving Turkey and Salad. This morning I woke up to the smell of a fresh Banana bread baking in the oven courtesy of Chef John. The conditions have been fairly benign. A 2-3' following sea with a long period swell of about 10' coming in from the NW just to add a little spice to the rock and roll and keep you on your toes.

Yesterday around 1400 or so we had a pod of a dozen dolphins playing around the boat and surfing the waves and jumping in the air. I think I got some decent photos but know I will do better as the trip progresses. Last night was another beautiful night with lots of stars and shooting stars, and a slightly larger crescent moon that set and hour or two after the sun. Each night the moon is rising a little higher in the sky as it marches on towards the full moon - I'd guess in 8 or 9 days.

Our expected time to arrive in Tenerife is after sunset on Weds so we will have to decide when we get closer what we want to do. It's not a good idea to enter a strange port at night so we might slow down, or stop at a nearby island. Either way I'm looking forward to our first landfall of this trip. Even in my Navy days - there's something sweet in the air when you've been at sea for a while and all of a sudden get downwind of land and can smell mother earth. When we approach Grenada we will be coming from upwind and eventually swing around the back of the island so I cant wait for that smell. After 17 days out and then having it hit you all at once it will be pretty cool. Oh well, I'd better stop focusing on Grenada for now as that's still a ways off.

Underway someone must always be "on watch". That means you are responsible for the boat - and more importantly - the lives of the people sleeping below. Our current watch schedule with 3 of us is 3hrs on and 6hrs off. So for instance Today I am on the 0000-300 watch then off to 0900. Then do the 0900-1200 watch then off to 1800 and do the 1800-2100 watch and off till 0300. So you can see each day your watch advances so that you are not on watch the same time each day. when we have 5 of us we will do 3 on and 9 off with one person designated as "Galley Slave" for the day. The Galley Slave cooks and cleans and doesn't stand watches that day.

Hope everyone is enjoying the ride with us. If you have any questions, pass them along to Kate and she will email them to me out here in the middle of the big blue.

Later.

At 11/28/2011 05:40 UTC saling vessel JAY SEA DEE was at 33°33.86'N 010°32.77'W sailing at 6.8 knots on a course of 223T

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