Off to Brazil Part 2

Wednesday February 16 – Day 9, total nautical miles traveled 1113, 141 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours.

Today’s matinee “Palmer” starring Justin Timberlake

Grilled hamburgers in a wrap folded pie shape for dinner.

Three birds sitting the boat, riding in the dark of night. They were very polite and didn’t leave a “mess”.

Thursday February 17 – Day 10, total nautical miles traveled 1265, 152 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours.

The batteries don’t seem to be holding a good charge throughout the night. Which is surprising since there is so much sunlight during the day. On the other hand, the autopilot (sailing downwind in sloppy waves) requires a lot of electricity. Also, the refrigerator is running longer, since the tropical air and water is warmer. So Dan dragged-out the portable generator to give the batteries a boost rather than start the boat’s engine.

For the past several weeks, the autopilot has been periodically stopping. Today it quit working altogether. For three hours I manually steered while Dan did some major troubleshooting, finally success! MacGyver Dan for the win!

New time zone, GMT-2. It’s 4:00pm In Fernando de Noronha, Brazil, 1pm in Philadelphia.

For dinner, chicken with roasted red peppers over rice.

I think we should name these three birds that visit us at night. They had quite the conversation between themselves, maybe they are giving us names?

Friday February 18 – Day 11, total nautical miles traveled 1408, 143 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours.

The morning wind was light, 8-10 knots with sloppy waves. Then for 3 hours squalls rolled in. Highest wind we saw was 20 knots, lots of rain. After lunch it cleared up with partly cloudy skies, 10 knots of wind.

Laundry day, we both washed a few items and they are hanging to dry around the inside of the boat.

Baked potatoes topped with cheese for dinner.

They’re back….our three birds, along for the night ride.

Saturday February 19 – Day 12, total nautical miles traveled 1535, 127 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours.

Today’s matinee double feature “Limitless” starring Bradley Cooper, and “Redemption Day”, starring actors I’m not familiar with.

*Sourdough Notes* the levain was started last night ready to be mixed in the afternoon. While waiting for the oven to heat up for the bread, we baked a tray of chocolate chip cookie bars. Another wonderful Belle loaf! Gotta love the smell of baking bread in the middle of the ocean!

Oh my the stars! The Milky Way, The Southern Cross to the South, The Big Dipper (Ursa Major) to the North! The Little Dipper (Ursa Minor) just below the horizon and raising, might see both the North Star and Southern Cross in the same sky if it weren’t for the 84% waning moon.

One bird tonight, perched upon the Simrad radar, wonder where her friends went? Perfect, we’ll name this bird Radar.

Sunday February 20 – Day 13, total nautical miles traveled 1701, 166 nautical miles travel in the past 24 hours. A new speed record for this passage.

A quick squall this morning bringing a brief rain shower followed by an increase in wind, 16-20 knots, now cruising 7-9.5knots with sloppy seas.

4pm the anchor was dropped off a sandy beach on the island of Fernando de Noronha. Total nautical miles traveled on this passage, 1783, it took 12 days, 9 hours.

We had dinner with team Ohana at O Pico restaurant serving traditional Brazilian foods.