We’re on a mooring now, ready for a quick escape tomorrow morning at first light. The dingy is aboard and strapped down, everything is stowed and we’re both (believe it or not) looking forward to actually getting going tomorrow.

Commanders Weather has given us a favorable forecast for the following seven days which should see us reach about the half way mark to the Azores. We’ll be heading South East until we hit latitude 39 which will be the southern edge of the gulf stream at which point we head due east, moving into the stream during good weather and south of it when there look to be squalls around. While in the stream we’ll gain about a knot – not to be sneezed at. We should be able to manage about 150 miles per day – sometime more, sometimes less.

We’ll update our spot position daily – probably twice daily (need some entertainment) so you can follow where we are. Additionally, if I can manage to work out the email system, I may be able to send text messages to Abigail via our SSB HAM radio, for upload onto this blog…

Another piece of entertainment is an open experiment we are participating in – submitting data to Plymouth University in England who are enlisting yachties to take measurements of the plankton health with a Secchi disc. We have a 12” diameter disc, painted while, which we will lower on a measuring tape into the water. When the disc disappears from view, we measure how deep it is. An iPhone app will then record our position and data (depth, water temp, etc) and upload it to the University when we are back in cell range. We took our first measurement today – 2.8 meters… The only downside of this whole think: we have to stop to take measurements… hmmm…