ATLANTIC BLOG#14 - MONDAY 8TH DECEMBER 2014 (2 WEEKS AT SEA!)

You might think that living on top of each other for days on end, you'd become accustomed to fellow travellers traits.  Well, yes, I think so.  But every now and then, something new appears.  For example, Danny has not before been noted for his avid reading style - owl glasses on, head down, almost literally buried in a book (the paper type).  Yet the Atlantic experience, or the air, or something has turned this usually enthusiastic helmsman into a quiet, withdrawn, contemplative character who is to be found curled into the corner of the sprayhood disturbing no-one.  Perhaps the young fella is slowing down after all!  Deb, on the other hand, has taken up station on the rear deck with mighty fishing rod in hand, a new swanky type with a big drum and lots of line.  Today was the big one.  Yes, really, it was thii-----iis big.  Yes, it was - was being the operative word.  The recovery, they say is the most difficult part.  Bring on the next lure! Tanya has installed herself as the resident masterchef.  A mean vegetable curry was enjoyed by all, exhibiting a genius only working with leftovers can bring out.  Umhh, those chickpeas are something else.  Sea weed is on the menu tonight, there's much of it around.  It must be the confluence of many currents bringing lots of swirling masses of green in our path.   Deb's micro'd lemon drizzle cake went down a storm.  If the night watch snack time had not been enforced, it would have been consumed in one very short sitting.  Washing, winches, and water making took up the remainder of our day, and still we seemed to be lazing about the cockpit for most of the day.  It was rather cloudy, I was going to say uncharacteristically, but we have experienced quite a few cloudy days.  The moon last night was shrouded in a self-lighted halo effect, obscuring the best of her brightness.  Nonetheless, her relative brilliance through the night has a warming effect on the darker hours of the night watches.  Heat in the cabins below is beginning to tell.  The thermometer read 28' today, which doesn't seem much in the greater scheme of things (I'm sorry if that sounds inconsiderate to you all shivering in the wintery British conditions), but even with most hatches open, the effect is debilitating. Makes cooking a labour of love.  The sunshade currently residing on the port side of the bimini has been renamed the Glaswegian screen saver, just to accommodate Mr McCulloch's sun-hiding habit. We apologise to our readers for the late arrival of yesterday's blog.  Transmission airwaves appears to be overloaded at the appointed hour, so an afternoon transmission had to suffice.  Better luck today.  As I finish the blog this morning and prepare to transmit (Tuesday @ 8am), the trip is showing 598 miles to go.  Early Saturday morning, 18 days 23 hours and 59 minutes, is still looking possible, at 150/day.  We are currently on UTC -2 (Universal Time Co-ordinated, Greenwich Mean time in old money), so 2 hours behind our British readers.  We change to UTC-3 today, and UTC -4 on Friday, to bring us in line with St Lucia time (we should really be horizontal on Saturday to be in tune with Caribbean time).  So a finish time before 7am our time, and 11am your time is our aim.  How exciting is this?