Day 18 Azores

​I derive so much pleasure from clean sheets. This morning I boiled water in the teapot for a hot shower and it was the most soothing experience to feel it sliding down my hair. My body tingled as I scrubbed and rinsed. I've never before realized how luxurious a hot shower can be. Just wait until I don't have to pump and hold the nozzle in my hand. The shower made me feel productive. I changed all the bedding and when I spread my clean body across the fresh scented sheets, I could have been on a king sized canopy bed in a palace. Luxury.

Two days ago, a very dull afternoon was coming to a close and a couple of miracles happened. An enormous pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins came arching toward the the cockpit and then swept up to the bow of the boat. We scampered up to meet them with our cameras and they displayed themselves in perfectly synchronized groups of 2 to 4. Their slick bodies shot through the water next to us at our same speed and were visible below the surface. They brought with them exclamations of pure joy that rose out of me with each perfect jump. The second miracle was the sunset. As the dolphins gave up their game and turned north, we continued to see them silhouetted against the yellow sunset that served as that night's show.  And we were the only two humans in the audience. There is so much wonder in this world when you clear out all the people that block the view.

Day 15 Azores

We saw whales today! They came right up to our bow and checked us out, surfacing to spray with their blowholes and show us their long gray bodies. It was enchanting to see them in the most natural way possible and I felt truly blessed by their visit. After describing their smooth gray bodies and small dorsal fins to our parents, we concluded that they must have been Minke whales. Their presence lasted only a few minutes, but it was time enough for me to run to the bow and enjoy them from only a few feet away. The sound of the blow hole so close was surreal since I'd heard it in movies so many times, but never in person. The other wildlife that has graced us over the past few days is the man-of-war jellyfish. They silently pass by the boat, sporting their fans that resemble transparent purple crescents. It's easy to forget that below these flower petal fans are the tentacles responsible for making them one of the most deadly creatures in the world.  They drift peacefully by us all day. The whales didn't seem disturbed by them.

This passage is mostly boring and uncomfortable, but there are days like today that renew my appreciation for everything we are doing. If we hadn't spent four days bobbing along going backwards, we may not have had such exciting visitors. I'm still impatient to get to land. I'm ready to take a warm bath and converse with other humans. I'm ready to take a long walk and smell leaves.

Night 11 Azores

I've just gained an entirely new understanding of the word "infinity." It's a precious knowledge that only a night at sea can provide. The stars are an infinite collection of worlds that overlap and shine down through the nebula. I've never seen such stars. But the real magic of tonight drifts past us, below us. The water is smooth as the surface of a full, untouched drinking glass. We speculated with confusion as to why the stars were only reflected in the glow of the stern light and quickly grabbed our strongest flashlight. As Herby swept the light over the black water, incomprehensible numbers of creatures responded by glowing as far down as the spotlight could penetrate. He said it was like illuminating a universe. I have never seen beauty that evoked so much wonder. We painted the water with billions of tiny glowing specks as we swept the light across. Why do they respond in such a way? What are they? In our sweeping, we found graceful pink jellies trailing long flowing tendrils. Were these baby jellies? In the end it didn't matter. What mattered was the beauty; the glowing lives floating past us as infinite as the stars. And no one to see them but us.

Day 11 Azores

There are ten or so birds all around us and the clouds look like mountains against the orange strip of sunset resting on the ocean. I want so badly to know about these birds. How did they get 800 miles from the nearest point of land and how are they going to get back? They aren't landing on the boat to rest. This really amazes and perplexes me. Still, the hint of land life that they provide is a comfort. The sea is back to its quiet, infinite ripples. The sight brought with it a peace that I wasn't expecting. What was once frustrating is now a welcome beauty. We slept in the Vberth last night with the stars visible through the open hatch and it was the best sleep I've had in many nights. A few days of this may prolong our trip, but it has renewed a vitality that had been trapped, hiding away from those seemingly endless angry waves.

Day 10 Azores

Today was our first slow day. It was actually a nice break from the pitching and sloshing that has been the trip so far. Highlights are few and far between, but one would be catching another fish of the same variety as the first time. It tasted amazing and I will remember it fondly despite the violent illness that followed that night.

Each morning we wake up and send our coordinates to David and Mary on "Adventurous" so that they can send us weather updates. It is a comfort to know that they are only 3 days ahead of us on the same ocean. Even though we can't see anything or anyone past the vast expanse of blue, we don't feel completely alone.

It's been a very different experience on this leg of the journey. We are more relaxed about watches because there is no one remotely close to us and we are able to sleep in the quarter birth since It's just the two of us. Meals are eaten whenever we feel hungry, and there have only been 3 or 4 sail changes the entire trip. Dill went up today for the first time and it was a refreshing change just to have something to do. I'm definitely not exercising enough. I can feel it when I become winded simply standing by the stove to cook chicken. I'll have to fix that.