November 14th

Today we saw the swell change…the South wind that was working against us had turned around and the North East wind that was part of the front we were outrunning started to build. Yesterday we confirmed that we were still 12-18 hours ahead of the front which meant we would get the wind and the swell with none of the weather. PERFECT.

As usual when the wind changes direction – it died first – and we decided, since we were in the clear in terms of the front, we would heave to and swim in the 5000 feet deep ocean (!!!)

Ok so I should mention here that I am fairly freaked out swimming in deep water. Back when I was a little kid we had a pool and sometimes we would get to swim in it at night. It was a totally different experience swimming across the deep end of the pool at night when I couldn’t see the bottom then it was during the day. I used to imagine a hippopotamus family living in the bottom of the pool at night and I would freak out half-way across and frantically get to the other side before they could get my toes.

Well I’m almost 40 and I totally had the same reaction in the ocean. Dude. It is freaking DEEP. There could be ANYTHING down there!!! Like entire civilizations! The Kracken! That Hippo Family that clearly has been following me around my whole life. They could all be there having a party together and I just can’t see them.

So it took me a few moments to convince myself to actually jump off as I stood on the sugar scoop - the kids and Andrew were already in – and so far they hadn’t been attacked by anything…so I let out a little scream and launched myself. I immediately curled into a ball so my toes weren’t temptingly dangling down too far (you know, because 3’ curled up vs.  5’10” below the surface when it’s 5000 feet deep makes a huge difference). It took me a few minutes to chill out enough to actually swim – then it was awesome. The water was so beautifully warm, yet just cool enough to be refreshing (we were all really hot and stanky) and the blue was truly amazing. I wanted to look under the boat to make sure everything was ok so Greg tossed me the snorkel and mask and I dove down….ok, for someone who doesn’t like deep water where she can’t see the bottom, this was super brave of me, I was basically a superhero. One look down with my mask on was like looking into deep blue space…and as Andrew said, it looks like there is a star deep down there or that down in the deep is where the moon is stored until it’s time for curtain rise at night….crazy.

The bottom of the boat looked good, no growth obviously since we’d been chooching (see previous post) and we didn’t pick up any line or anything on the prop. So we all soaped up a few times and then indulged in a freshwater hose down at the stern before wrapping up our pool party. Man, it was such a rewarding moment after many many many many many many many days of slogging it. And it turned out to be a turning point in this passage. After we were all up and drying off and on our way again the wind started to fill in and we were off. Greg spotted a whale off in the distance and flying fish were jumping out around us and the beatering had come to an end.

But remember that massive front? Well hahaha…it brought a massive swell. To be continued.

Much love

M