Pacific Odyssey - Leg 2

Well, I am sweating away at 2130hrs with the hatches wide open; it is smoking hot. The engine room is 55 degrees Celsius. At 0230 last night we had to start the engine as the wind was weakening. This morning we lowered the main and set the trysail to save wear on the mainsail because it was just flogging around in not enough wind. At about 1430 we lowered all sail, turned off the engine and had our first ´swim stop.´ Our latitude was 9N13.5, our longitude was 149W48.8, the depth of the water was 15,000 feet. It was incredibly wonderful! We all sensed it. The blue of the water is indescribable; a deep, deep, concentrated and solid, yet with light travelling through it, royal blue...just so beautiful. We wore our masks and floated immobile in the water, just staring at its blueness.  Nearly everyone swam, even the three youngest boys. Some trainees and crew tried to climb the bobstays, there are always the competitive ones seeing who can climb up the highest, there were some who jumped off the bowsprit, drifting bouyantly until they reached amidships where the rope ladder waited, there were trainees who climbed the shrouds and jumped from 10 ft up. We divide the swim period into three groups, our watches, with each watch swimming for 15 minutes
while the other two watches stand ´shark watch.´ It was the highlight of the day. I have had swimstops on previous offshores, and I´ve always enjoyed them, but I forgot how incredibly amazing they are, how completely satisfying and yet so simple an activity. By supper the sea was glassy, with flat, oily-looking swells. There is a gently rolling, side to side motion throughout the ship. We should all sleep well tonight, except for the heat. During a celestial navigation
lesson, Skipper took out the ship log and demonstrated how speed was
measured 200 years ago. We have been watching the cloud formations the
past few days. They are varied and very beautiful. The big grey,
heavy ones bring rain, which we enjoyed this morning, remaining outside, getting wet, staying somewhat cooler until the sun returned to dry us off. Juniors wrote their exams today; Sara said the marks look good. The moon is waxing gloriously. It shines behind us and sends a beautiful ray onto the sea, a wide band of light. The sky tonight is filled with stars as the night is clear. It really is quite something. The night air has absolutely no coolness to it; I´d say it was body temperature, you can´t really feel it; another beautiful night. Bonice