. . . on the LONG sail

So here we are on day 16 of our sail . . . the first 13 were quite gentle, nice little rock, virtually no interruption to daily routine .. . then along came day 14 (Friday)!!

The waves and swells both increased significantly, which is entirely normal for this area.  We went from rocking 3-4 degrees on a bad patch to having one wave sequence that took us over 21 degrees port and starboard!  All around the ship you could here the crash and bang of things that had broken loose of their moorings or had been thought to be safe from moving.  Many of us spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up things and re-securing areas that were supposed to have been fully secured before we sailed.

Since Friday we have had pretty constant 6-10 degree rolls.  If feels just like I've been on the kiddy roller coaster . . . for a constant 48 hours!  Neither Denise or I have felt particularly seasick, I am just ready to be done riding the roller coaster!  I have a much better understanding of why sailors have to adjust their balance between sea and land.

We arrive in Cape Town tomorrow where we will stay for about 2 1/2 weeks doing promotional/recruitment work in conjunction with the South African office.  Then it is off the Madagascar!

Here are a couple pictures we took this week, separated by just a few days:

In the last entry I forgot to mention the excitement in the harbor of Gran Canaria!  A ship docked about 1,000 meters away from us started on fire.  Thankfully there were no injuries; however, the fire got bad enough they towed the hulk out to sea and sunk it . . . here are a couple pictures . . .

Time Change:  For those of you in the Central Time Zone, we are now 7 hours ahead of you .. . . when we get to Madagascar near the end of October we will be 8 hours ahead, then after you change your clocks, we will be 9 hours different.