MW Ship's Log May 7 - You Don't Always Get What You Want...

Dateline: End of Watch 3:00 A.M. Wednesday May 8

Status:
83 nautical miles as the crow flies, but we are not flying crows. 149 nm traversed on Day 13. Sailing since Monday 10 PM.

Sightings:
Waves crashing over the bow and splashing on to the dodger. Sunshine. Rain. Sunshine. Rain.  Jim doing stuff on bow I don't think he should be doing right now.

Fishing:
No fishing.

Dinner:
Greek chicken over bow-tie past. 

Quote of the Day:
"Be careful what you wish for..." - Gibb

We wanted wind. We got wind. 15-20 knots most of the day yesterday. Mostly from the direction we want to go. Reefed sail and tacking were the order of the day and the crew stayed mostly below deck except when on watch, tacking or trimming. This was a lot more of what I expected an Atlantic passage to look like.

The cruise ship New Amsterdam steamed past in the evening hours, passing as close as 2 nm and lit up like a Christmas tree. I could almost hear the passengers looking over the railing at us bouncing in the waves and saying "Can you imagine what it would be like to be on a little boat like that?" then taking another sip of their Dark & Stormy.

Other Quote of the Day:
"It's trippy out there." - Bob during the 1:00 AM Watch handover

Indeed. No moon. Heavy clouds. Dark as it gets. 23- 26 knots of win. Double reefed and jib rolled in. Phosphorescent foam in the churned up wake. Occasional spots of phosphorescent plankton splashed on the dodger and fading like a dying ember.

Watched a light on the horizon off the aft port quarter thinking it was another ship. Decided it must be a light beacon on top of the Western-most Island i the Azore chain.*

... you get what you need.

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* Upon further review, and looking at a chart in the clear light of day, no way that light could have been the Azores. I now conclude it was actually a UFO and the vanguard of an alien invasion of earth.