39’33.2N 030’02.7W course 051′ speed 7,2kn
Today we had an unexpected surprise, although we had expected to see land, we did not expect to have cellphone reception at 30 miles out at sea! BUT WE DID. First thing we all did was open spotify! Doubtful wether we needed any news from the outside, wanted to open any what’s app or other messages or even if we wanted to call anybody.. but we needed spotify! After being at sea for a month without cellphone reception, the app starts deleting downloaded songs.. first a few.. and then all of a sudden, no more downloaded music.. This happened 3 days ago and so our music choice on board slunk to just a few songs.. Until today!

And once we were holding the phone.. old habits slipped in quite easily. Maybe see if there are any important messages.. or maybe just call that one person.. And within half an hour everybody (except for the few without cellphone reception) was spread out on the deck calling home, sending pictures and reading up on the news! Some of the home parties were lucky enough to be called just while dolphins were playing at the bow and were able to enjoy the view with us. Pretty special.

Also, since this morning we have been under sail! At 5 in the morning, with Myrthe and Maike on watch, we set the big jib, the forestaysail and the mizzen. At 8 o’clock we set the mainsail and turned of the engine. The silence was was so complete! At 12 we set the topsails in a record time of 20 minutes, from unfurling until both sails were set. We are getting very good at this!
During the day we sailed with 5,5 knots most of the time, but now the speed is up and so are our spirits. Its good to be under canvas again, to have the right speed in the right direction, to have talked to loved ones, even if it was short and its so good to feel the ship being back in her element!
In line with the wildlife spotting blog of yesterday, we can ad, that if you are taking a video of whales, it is better not to have your hand in front of the lens, trying to point out where they are.. as the hand may block the actual footage of the whale… 08-12 watch!
All is well on board, Jet