Atlantic Passage: Ascension Island to Tobago

Our journey across the Atlantic started when we left South Africa at the beginning of January, so by the time we left Ascension, we had already covered approximately 2,400 miles of the overall 5,400 mile journey.   But we had had 2 stops along the way in St. Helena and Ascension Island.  So this left just over 3,000 miles from Ascension to Tobago, which would be our longest single passage to date, and also our roughest.

So what did we do at sea for 19 days? Here's a little overview:

Cool Runnings crew on departing Ascension Island on the morning of February 4th, 2018

We encountered a couple of ships along the way.  A few we had chats with, others just passed us by.  This one was probably one of the closest

Every morning Dave would walk around the boat and have to throw a couple of flying fish overboard.  These were the unfortunate fellows who were perhaps still learning how to fly, and didn't quite make it!

Remember the story about the flying fish that came through the hatch and wedged itself between the bed and the sail bag?  This is it....UGH!

Dave often took photos like these to check the rig while underway.  He would zoom in on certain parts to check for chafe or anything that didn't look right

Another one:  Those are our wind instruments at the top of the mast, and the main sail is at one reef

On Valentine's Day (so 10 days into the journey), Gaby decided to write a message in a bottle (except we didn't have a bottle, only an empty pasta jar!)

This is the letter that she wrote

We wrapped it in some construction paper, tied a string on it, and added some shells

Then Gaby got to throw it overboard!  Let's see if we ever hear where it landed up!

We enjoyed a few pretty sunrises (and sunsets)...not many...we had very few sunny days, and even on overcast days, it just got gradually lighter, we seldom saw a sunrise

We went through quite a few squalls, which we didn't mind, as the rain washed the salt off the boat

But the seas were always pretty rough.  Here you can see the size of the waves coming at us from the side

When the rains comes...

Gaby finds ways to amuse herself...earrings made from our clothes pegs!

I've always enjoyed baking (much more than cooking!), so we found reasons to celebrate and make cupcakes or brownies or have pancakes or scones.  Milestones such as the halfway mark, or under 2,000 or 1,000 miles count!

Pancakes on my birthday!

Enjoying the simple things like a rainbow 

A rare sunny day.  It really lifted the mood of all aboard when the sun shone!

On the 18th we celebrated my birthday.  We decided the cake was a replica of Ascension Island, with the mountain in the middle! The boat was moving so much, that the batter was swishing around in the pan in the oven!  Thank you to all the kind birthday wishes that I received on passage, and the ones I picked up when I connected to Facebook and email again!

With Gaby

Enjoying my card from Benjamin

I got this beautiful necklace from Gaby and Dave.  We had collected the unusual blue coral in Chagos.  Dave drilled the holes and Gaby made the necklaces!  It is now one of my favorite and most treasured possesions!

Dave also had to clean fuel filters.  He described this in one of the posts we did along the way.  We run the generator at night for an hour or two, to charge the batteries, as they don't last the night, especially when it had been cloudy during the day.  The generator was battling to start, and Dave suspected the fuel filters were so dirty, that the fuel was battling to get through to start.  This is a new and an old filter...!!!

Dave working on changing the filter.  We believe the motion of the boat was stirring up the dirt at the bottom of the fuel tanks and confounding the problem.  We then also polished the fuel in our tanks by running it through the fuel polishing and transfer system that Dave and his dad built and installed before we left

Sunrise on the morning of our arrival in Tobago.  You can see the confused sea state that made it such a bouncy passage!

Many people have asked us why we didn't stop in Brazil, which would have given us a break in the long journey.  We did think about it, but there were several reasons.  The main one was that as US citizens you need a visa to enter Brazil, and we would have had to get this while in South Africa. It required going to the consulate, applying in writing and in person, handing over passports (you know we don't like that!), and then waiting for their decision.  We just ran out of time in Cape Town to do this.  It was also a cost issue at around $200 per visa.  Brazil was (apparently) switching to an easier, online system, however, it was only going live for US citizens on January 28th, when we didn't have access to the internet.  In the end, it was also a time issue:  we were eager to get to the Caribbean and have some time to enjoy it before heading home.  So, ultimately, we made the decision to just make the journey from Ascension to Tobago in one go.

Our track across the Atlantic Ocean

Land ahoy!!  Captain is very happy!

Entering Man-of-War Bay in the small fishing village of Charlottesville, Tobago!  After 19 days at sea, we were thrilled to see land again and have the long passage behind us!  We were looking forward to a good night's sleep, and a cold, Carib beer!