We’ve been in Antigua over a week now, and there are a few thoughts I’ve wanted to add about our trip.

First, I think you might be interested to know that while we were underway and sending blogs we never saw them. We were emailing each blog to the web site. Any photos were emailed to Ben, who posted them on the site. So once we got our internet going we were surprised and pleasantly pleased by the site and by all the comments! I actually wrote this blog (or something similar) 2 days ago, but it got lost in internet space.

For those of you who were intrigued by the “disco stars”, I hope you will read the comment by our friend Marc, who is an astronomer in Montreal. It follows the Nov 29, “Lumpy, Bumpy, Breezy” entry. According to Marc we aren’t headed to the looney bin after all.

Jake has asked me to expand on the Dec 1 “Swim Call” paragraph describing the squalls. We had squalls that we could see on the radar and on the horizon eight miles to the east of us and six miles behind us for the entire night. If our navigation hadn’t been this precise (or lucky), we would have been soaked. We could watch the squalls coming in from the east on the
radar as they marched toward us, then dissipated and dried up. There was something about the dry air around us. The ugly stormy weather just couldn’t get to us. Had we been 8 miles further east or 6 miles slower, we would have had an ugly night.

Many people have inquired about Peter’s cut finger and how bad it must have been for us to turn around. (If you are interested, Ben has posted photos of the wound on Nov 24 “Great Fishing”.) I would say that if Peter had cut himself in his wood shop at home an ER doctor would have stitched the wound, given him a tetanus shot and told him not to use it or get it wet for a week. Apparently the opportunity to make a difference in closing a wound with stitches is best within 24 hours, and Peter didn’t get to the ER until after 28 hours. Kim had done a fine job closing the wound with the steri-strips so it didn’t make sense to try to stitch it. With Peter’s wound, the danger was not with the cut itself, but with the possibility of infection because the knife had been used to filet fish. The DAN doctors on the phone, the ER doctor in Bermuda and Peter’s doctor at home all emphasized the seriousness of infection. If he got an infection it would be sudden, likely within 4 days of the cut, and it could kill him! Peter had to be close to a hospital. That’s why we had to turn around and that’s why Peter couldn’t continue with us. We’ve talked to Peter since he got home, and he says the finger is healing well and he can now use the hand as long as he doesn’t get it wet.

The last item of note is that Kim taught us all how to make toast and eggs at once in a pan: put the slice of bread with a hole in the middle in a pan, break an egg into the hole, cook it the way you like it and you’ve got breakfast in one shot. Ben has posted a photo of the egg & toast breakfast (and I suspect there’s hash underneath it all [there was!]) in his photos. It was probably part of an “O dark thirty” breakfast [it was!!!]–any breakfast eaten before sunrise has no calories, no carbs and no fat! [When Kim suggested this, I knew what she was talking about immediately. I'd seen it on TV somewhere before. I said it was "egyptian toast". When I got home, I looked it up. Turns out it's "Egyptian Eggs". There are a million other fun nicknames out there for it. Either way, it was an excellent suggestion, and an easy way to keep the eggs behaving on the stove on a rolly morning.]

All the best from the remaining crew of avalanche, Jake & Marnie.

[Ben Here. I've added 3 clarifications in these brackets within the post. I also linked the 2 posts mentioned so it's easier to go back and double check]

Well I’ve had a bit of time to go through some of my shots. I still have to go through my shots from Antigua. I also need to add these shots to the posts when/where they happened, but I haven’t had time yet. I’ve also added 2 new shots to the rotation up top. Enjoy:

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OK, I’ve now had enough time to add Mom and Dad’s shots from their cameras to their gallery, here are their shots:

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We made it! 0215 on December 2nd, with all hands on deck for the arrival.  Long sunny day. No fish. No wind. Tomorrow is Customs and clean-up and some sight-seeing. Monday Ben and Kim head home. Leo, of course, is now home. More to follow after Monday.

All the best from the crew of avalanche as we head to bed.

When opportunity knocks….At 0900 we had zephyrs for wind and leftover swells, bright sunshine, air temp just into the 90′s, and water temp of 82.9 degrees. Swim call! We had been motorsailing, so we rolled up the sails, throttled the engine back to neutral with a quick shift into reverse to stop the forward motion, strung a float out on about 30′ of line for holding on, and rigged loops of line for a swim ladder. Leo, of course, had long insisted that there was no way he was going swimming out of sight of land with all those big hungry fish around; so he volunteered as lifeguard and photographer. The rest of us dove right in.

The water was wonderful and so clear you could see the entire bottom of the boat (it looks really clean) and the sun’s rays going deep into the water. At first the boat continued to coast away from us and we had to keep up, but gradually it made a turn and we were surfing toward the boat. From the water it seemed as if the boat was really rolling in the swells, but once back on board we could tell it was nothing like what we had been experiencing.

We were having such a fine time,and encouraging and goading Leo to join us, that finally he did! Leo Bontiff dove into water over 19,000′ deep and lived to tell the story. If you would like to check out exactly where we were swimming go to maps.google.com and search for: 18.85, -61.99. It’s been several years since we’ve had conditions for swim call, and it’s great fun!

We’ve talked to Peter today. He took his finger to his doctor, who thought it was healing very nicely. In fact he wanted to remove the steri-strips to take the stitches out. Peter had to quickly point out that there were no stitches–only steri strips. Fine job by Kim. He can’t use the hand for another week, a definite problem for a carpenter and father of 2 boys! Peter’s doctor reenforced the danger of infection, keeping him on antibiotics for another week, and warning him that if he has any joint pain he should go immediately to an ER (not just to his doctor). (Come on, everyone over 50 who has just been sailing offshore has joint pain. What is that doctor thinking?)

On to the fishing contest: The lines are out. Score currently Peter and Ben 5, Jake & Leo 0, fish 4. (Ben had another bite this morning, but they lost the fish.) Needless to say, Jake and Leo have great expectations. We’ll keep you posted. We’re still brainstorming the flag representing the fish that got away. How about a cartoon fish holding the lure with a raised victory fist, or fish holding person on a lure and raised victory fist. We’re looking for suggestions here.

Yesterday afternoon the winds and seas moderated a very little, but gradually by midnight we were motor sailing and this morning it was calm enough for our swim. During the night we continued to have the threat of squalls, and continued to roll up the sails and start up the engine all night long, but lucky for us it never did rain! The squalls were constant to the left of us and behind us, but dried up before they got to us. We’ve got 58 miles the north end of Barbuda and another 50 into Falmouth Harbour. We expect to get there sometime in the middle of the night.

Meanwhile, the crew of avalanche is having the kind of day that makes a trip like this worthwhile: relaxing in the sun, reading, eating, napping and wishing we’d catch a fish. 18 degrees 42 minutes N latitude, 61 degrees 56 minutes W longitude or on maps.google.com 18.70,-61.93.

As predicted we had a busy night! We had 18-25 knots with intermittent squalls. We watched them creep toward us on radar and at 8 miles out we prepared the boat: we rolled up the Yankee and we shortened the main; then we started the engine and waited. We weren’t disappointed. I’ve just polled the (awake) crew and learned the total overnight squall count was 6. Jake and Leo had the most: 3, with 33 knots the highest gust, Kim and I had only one, with 35 knots. That kept us really busy: checking the radar, rolling sails in, getting rained on, motoring, rolling sails out, shutting down the engine, doing it all again…and again. You get the picture. Meanwhile we have had some big rolling waves, so we’ve had to hang on with the rolls. The good news is that the winds should begin to moderate sometime today, and perhaps the seas will lessen as well. However, the squalls are scheduled to continue.

Last night when the moon was out and the watch was joined by 2 rabid off watch football fans for the 2nd half of the Packer game, they all saw a rainbow that went from horizon to horizon caused by the moon! The ocean is probably one of few remaining places where there is so little man-made light that moonlight can create a rainbow. We are very lucky to be here. The Packers, however, weren’t so lucky. Sirius radio had fine reception for the second half of the game, so the local fans heard the disappointing result play by play.

I have managed to wake the off watch crew this morning for the third time. We all wear Man OverBoard watches as a safety precaution. When the watch senses saltwater it sends an alarm: to 3 loud horns, one in each stateroom; to the chart plotter, where it inserts a MOB waypoint; and to a light on the back deck. Additionally it sends a signal that can be picked up by other ships and planes. I had been on deck for 4 hours in the rain and salt spray. I’d come below to change fuel tanks, water tanks, and replenish the beverages in the fridge, when my watch alarmed. Remember those awful fire drills in school? Well, that’s what it sounded like. Leo, Ben & Kim were startled awake as I struggled to disarm my watch. And there were 2 other times while Peter was still on board. Once standing below with my watch inside the sleeve of my rain jacket at an hour when 3 crew were sleeping, and once when everyone was up I simply set it on an apparently damp head countertop. At this point we’ve retired that MOB watch. I’ll pull out a spare to wear.

Jake and Leo are on watch wishing the wind and seas would abate so they can begin fishing. They are desperate to pull some fish (and their reputations) out of the sea.

We have 260 miles to Barbuda, where we will have great fishing if it is daylight and the conditions settle down. There are 315 miles to Falmouth Harbour. The good and bad news is that we’re making over 9 knots in this wind (and probably a favorable current, as well). That’s good because it will get us there quickly, bad because it’s too wild to fish. The prediction is for the wind to drop to 15 and then light and variable later Friday and Saturday. If that happens, Jake and Leo will at least have the opportunity to catch up.

All the best from the crew of avalanche wishing for no more squalls and good fishing. 21 degrees 53 minutes N latitude, 62 degrees 59 minutes W longitude (to see where that is, go to maps.google.com and search for: 21.88, -62.98).