One Giant Swimming Pool

Conditions from the previous week continued to improve as we made our way south on Sunday along longitude 66 degrees west.  We knew the new front was arriving Tuesday, but on Sunday, 150 west of Bermuda, the North Atlantic Ocean looked like a giant swimming pool.  How could we pass up the opportunity to stop the boat, put our bathing suits on and go for a dip?  I will confess that the research OCEARCH has been doing unfortunately makes me wonder if Lydia or Mary Lee were enroute to Bermuda, a couple thousand feet below me, but what the heck, Luis had his Wilderness EMT kit and Baxter could punch a shark in the nose if they took too big of a bite, right??

After drying off, it was back to work.  Baxter wanted to clean the fuel filters that caused the engine to stall Thursday and possibly get some of the fuel from the port tank over to starboard.  We would need more than the 50 gallons of diesel the starboard tank holds to make it to the BVI but the fuel in the port tank seemed contaminated (by water and sediment that was shaken up when we pounded into waves the week before.)  So Baxter cleaned the racors (primary fuel filter) and we siphoned fuel from the port tank so we could filter it twice and use it in the starboard tank.  It was either going to work, or put us in a bad position by dirtying the fuel in the starboard tank.  We cranked the engine and it was back on course heading south past 28N.

Since the sun finally made an appearance, we had to dry all of the bedding that had been soaked for the last 5 days.

Katie excited about jumping in!

Can I jump in with you next time, Dad?  Unfortunately, Kala, your Mom said "NO!"

Luis & Baxter fueling while it was relatively calm.  It's difficult to balance pouring 40 lb jerry jug while waves are rolling you around.

The cockpit was a disaster during fueling while everything had to come out of the lazarettes.