We are now 36 nautical miles from Corvo, Azores, and I just spotted my first ship on night watch, for the past 22 days! The 4 other ships we saw were all during the day. Two passes 1.5 nautical miles from us, one 6 nautical miles from us, and the fourth was not visible but showed up on the AIS at 14.6 nautical miles from us.
This ship means much more to us than another vessel, this ship means that we are nearing a port and traffic is starting to coalesce. Those navigation lights signal more than a position and direction, they tell us that humans are over there and human contact awaits us in the very near future.
