Day 13 Doldrums

Over the last couple of days the wind has been ghosting us as predicted, and we are certainly in the doldrums,  the water is as clear as a mirror, we did know this was coming, but gosh I never expected it to feel so painfully boring. 😑  Although I can tell you the sunsets and sunrises are absolutely magnificent in the doldrums, not really sure if this is truly the case or if my boredom see's it differently 🤷🏻‍♀️ Some how this never gets old for me no matter how often I see it.
Yes it is Friday and we are still not in Salvador.

Yesterday we had no choice but to take the sails down and start up the motors, rotating port and starboard at around 1400 RPM of course we are always trying to preserve fuel, although we really cannot complain as we have hardly needed to use motors since we left South Africa, with the exception of entering and exiting harbours.

We decide to use the calm and make the most of our days, in order to prevent us all from going totally bonkers, we ventured into the water for a swim, WOW, what a feeling knowing that below your body is a depth of around 12 000 feet, so yes we are certainly using safety lines and floating devices. 

After a good swim it was time for a South African Braai (bbq) with Weskus Boerewors (SA sausage), pap and sauce, of course it goes without saying we needed a couple of beverages to keep the spirits up and a few good tunes on spotify.

During these days the guys made a concerted effort to catch some fish, but there was not to be so much luck, a few that got away though, probably because the fisherman gets tired before the fishy does.

When  night time graced us, we decided to turn the motors off as we have just learnt that customs and immigration are closed on Saturdays and Sundays, if we keep motoring we will arrive in Salvador on Saturday. We all agreed that it would be rather traumatic to be be stuck on the boat in a marina under quarantine all weekend after being at sea for 2 weeks. Motors off and we will rather float out here for an extra day and head into Salvador on Sunday, giving us the day to clean the boat and be ready for immigration on Monday morning.

By the time I woke up for my shift, I was surprised to see just how far we had floated during the night. The water still like absolute glass, not a breath of wind. Guess what? I saw birds yeahhhhh this means we are close to land only 140nm to go. We are all looking so forward to some restaurant food and a few cocktails. Not to mention the ability to sleep without hearing every sound and movement.