When dolphins come to play......

There is an old mariner saying that when doplhins come to play,trouble
is on the way.It is surprising how often that holds true,trouble meaning
stronger winds and rougher seas mostly.Yestereday morning we had a quick
visit and at sunset the dolphins stayed with us for half an hour.It as a
pod of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins on both occasions.This morning we had a
pod of Clymene Dolphins paying us a visit.Both types are fast
swimmers,excellent bowriders and the energy they excude,the lustfull
playfullness always a pleasure to behold.

True to the legend,the weather turned Westerly and the wind speed slowly
started building,settling between 20 25 kts having us sailing on the
beam,what a pleasure.the seastate has roughened as well and we are
certainly not as quiet and smooth as on a run but we are fast,very
fast.At one point we thought we may only reach Fortaleza on Tuesday
morning and worked out some waypoints in case of a night entry.We would
have entered,filled the water tanks and on our way again.With the speed
we are doing now it is very likely that we will reach Fortaleza on
Monday afternoon as we hoped for to keep to our tight schedule.We now
can fill the watertanks,have supper at the Marina Park Hotel and before
heading for St.Lucia,about 1700 nm away.With the good currents and wind
we normally find up here we are bound to do a few 200 nm a day runs.The
trouble the dolphins brought us we appreciate,and although we are
sailing undercanvassed,second reef in main and genoa we are staying
above 9 kts.More and more ships alos appear and disappear a s we are
nearing the South American Coast.Yesterday we also landed a seapike or
pick handle baracuda for some,but set this toothy specimen free
again.They can sometimes be poisonous,especially around reefs but the
flesh is also not that tasty.Lucky fish.

The pressure is still on to make Tortola in time for our scheduled air
tickets on 28/06.We still have to run from St.Lucia up to Tortola,clear
customs,do the handover at Tortola.All things that take time.We have
plenty of diesel left,still have to cross the equator but with your
prayers,good wishes,good wind and good currents we stand a fighting
change of pulling this one through.From our side we do our best to do
whatever the weather requires to get optimum balance between,speed,not
placing undue pressure on our yacht,staying sensible,staying
focused.Without all of the above in place we have no chance whatsoever.

We wish you a less mad week ahead than we imagine the weekend and Friday
was.