Day 2

We are getting the shake & bake treatment since late afternoon yesteday. The wind and the 2 meter waves are coming from the side so we are going up, down, right, left and back again. The good news is that no body on board including our pet bird has sea sickness. It's incredable what this bird can get use to! We are still getting winds from the SO between 15 to 20 knots. The wind is on port side, we are moving at 6 knots and the heading is 140 degres. We have gone 139 nautical miles in the last 24 hours. Simces we are still on the Newfoundland banks which means we could encounter fisherman or petrol stations we are taking shift. It is presently 5h15 am and I am keeping watch while Gaston is snoring. I get to sleep again in 2 hours. Some dolphins came to swim around us during the night. I missed them but Gaston enjoyed the phosforecent show.
Now to answer the navigation question we were asked which was why do we choose to cross over the Atlatic towards the Carabean for the winter instead of going down the African coast. On a sailboat, we tend to go with the wind and currents of the world not against them. That said, there are two not so perfect wind and current circles in the Atlantic. The one in the northern hemisphere circles the same path as our first year's desitnations. The second is in the south and goes counter clockwise. So it we were to go to Africa, we would have to cross over form the equator to Brezil and then head to South Africa and go up the coast. It's what is called and Atlantic 8. But except for Marroco in the North of the African continent and South Africa at the opposite end, there are no country that are equiped with marinas. Some are also at war and/or very poor. This usually equals piracy so it's considere a dangerous area. If we decide to cross to the Pacifique by the Magelan canal, we will visit Brezil and the South American coast. Morroco is usually done while coming out the the Medaterene sea and South Africa at the end of the trip after the Pacific and the Idian seas.
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