Day 23 : Ascension to Azores

Saturday April 9th 2022

The wind has died completely and not a breath stirs the ocean. The water surface is soft and smooth, and flowing like silk. The moon is playing with the clouds, at times so bright it’s like a spotlight in the sky, others times it’s like a torch light diffused under a sheet. This alone is a beautiful sight way out here thousands of miles from land.

But it’s the reflection of the moon dancing on the soft smooth ocean that has Pete and I mesmerised. We grapple to find words to describe the beauty.

At first we thought it was the lights of fishing boats so super close it made our hearts leap into our mouths, as we freak out thinking how did they get so close without us seeing them on the radar! But then it dawns on us.

And we try to describe the most spectacular light show that either of us has ever seen. It is like flames of fire dancing or liquid gold gently rolling or like lanterns floating. Neither of us feel we can capture the scene appropriately before us, it is poetic, beautiful, and once in a lifetime.

Pete has to go, as his watch has finished and it’s time for bed. He tears himself away, I continue to watch in awe. But slowly the magic fades as the breeze ever so slightly picks up and ruffles the ocean surface and the moons reflection becomes its normal stunning moon beam on water. Gone the dancing flames. But both of us will be forever grateful for the joy it gave us.

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Day 23 Statistics:

Time on passage so far: 22 days, 21 hours
Distance covered in last 24 hours: 129 nm
Average Speed in last 24 hours: 5.4 knots

Official Length of intended Route when we set out: 3,480 nm
Current Projected Distance to Go according to chart plotter: 968 nm
Distance Sailed so Far: 2,684 nm
Total Projected Distance of Route: (2,684 + 968): 3,652 nm
Change in total projected distance in last 24 hours: +22 miles

Estimated Day of Arrival: Monday 18th April (now we have less than 1,000 miles to go, I’m prepared to start thinking about when we might actually get there.