Day 4: Bring on the sunshine

We have renamed Ciao Bella: Hillbrow on Sea. The cockpit is covered in clothing, sleeping bags and mattresses as we attempt to get them dry. It’s a bit of a risky exercise because every now and then a rogue wave makes an appearance and wets half of it again.

We have spent most of the last two days trying to get our email communication up and running. The hardware was damaged in the storm, and we’ve had to rely on a spare sat phone handset for calls and texts in the meantime. We have still had no luck. Our email outbox tally is up to 4 messages now.

We haven’t seen too much wildlife this time round. We’ve seen a whale, a shark, bluebottles but no dolphins. The flying fish have also started to make some appearances. One thing that we have seen plenty of are albatrosses. No shortage of those guys. It’s a little strange to see so many of them so far north, but we are not complaining.

The nights remain bitterly cold.

It has been a treat to be able to still be eating fresh fruit this far in. A big vote of thanks to the Largier family for the great nectarines from Little Oaks, and to the Hutton-Squires for the yummy apples from their farm in Elgin.