43’13.7N 011’20.0W course 157 speed 8,1kn
Our miles South are starting to count. Layers are peeled off during the day and a noticeably warmer air is flowing towards us. The Easterly wind is fairly moist though, that can feel cool after a few hours at the helm, but still, its is getting warmer!! And the sailing with this Easterly breeze is amazing. We have had a few more knots of wind then predicted (14 to 16, instead of 10 to 12) and so our speed was very high during most of the day. The 12 to 16 watch even had an average of 7,7 knots! But sadly during the evening watch we lost the wind and so we are now under sail and engine, making good speed with still a small breeze left. The small breeze would have been enough to keep us going at a low speed. But the weather is about to change, and we are not about to get caught in the South wind in the wrong place. So South East we go and head towards the Portuguese coast.
Lately we have been accompanied by a few small birds. They come and sadly they go again.. Some can not find a place to sit comfortably and others get blow off all the time and then disappear. But since 20:00h we have had the pleasure on the aft of hosting a perfect little seat on the mizzen reef tackle (which is not doing anything any way) for a “kwikstaartje” in Dutch, not quite sure what the English translation would be for this.. (Jannette: the dictionary says: wagtail) It is in a deep sleep, not bothered by us passing in and out of the chartroom.. Which could be a good thing, it is getting it’s energy back.. But it could also be a bad thing, it is too drained from flying and is exhausted beyond repair.. the morning will tell. We have put out some seeds and breadcrumbs for it, and some water.. but I wonder if it will notice these luxuries before it flies off.

Picture of the day was won by Jasmijn, a good shot of us sailing along and the grey blurry sun we had during the day.
With our coastal detour we have just under 1000 miles left to Tenerife. Right now, with this speed, we would even get there in a timely fashion. Lets see what the next few days have to say about that!
The radar screen is showing a shower on our Starboard side, should blow away, but just to be sure, I’ll go outside and see if Soete has her rain gear on.

All is well on board,
Jet