Day 34 – Lake Atlantic

3 Apr, 07 – 21.30    
17.5490N,33.2574W
24 hr progress: 14.4 Nautical Miles

Where has it all gone? The 30 knot winds? Breaking waves? Flying fish? Dolphins? Doradas? It's only been a month since I had a shower. I can't be smelling that bad, can I?
Dead calm with neither wave nor ripple or swell. An unbroken 360 degree horizon all around and 4 km of still water below with great visibility for diving. You can see fish swimming 20 ft below the boat.
What is most striking is the kind of absolute silence that you could never experience on land. But even more so, the kind that does not suit the personality of the Atlantic. The mighty Atlantic has turned into a Mighty Mouse. Looks like conditions are here to stay for the rest of the week.
As advertised, (thx Erden), the rest of the week looks as:
Tue 10 knots ENE, Wed 10 knots ENE, Thu 10 knots ENE, Fri 15 knots NE, Sat 15 knots NE
Tried to catch a bit about the outside world via the radio, but the reception was quite erratic. The radio, a 12 band world receiver, unfortunately has an analogue ratio tuner (a knob that you turn), which was a mistake, as it keeps losing its position as the boat rocks with the waves. I've finally lost reception of Radio Netherlands, where the seemed to be discussing the high price of train tickets most of the time. I managed to briefly tune into a broadcasts from Radio Africa and caught the news about Ireland playing SA today in the Cricket World Cup. Hard to imagine all that excitement over men throwing hard objects at each others ankles.
The news happened to mention the US Gov. NOAA predicting a more active Atlantic hurricane season this year. I just hope its not an early hurricane season as I was hoping for landfall by the first week of June, but at the current rate of progress, it may be Mid-June.
Another break in the monotonous landscape, when I saw 2 more birds skimming the surface of the water near the boat, looking for food. They were similar to the one I found on the boat a few weeks ago. (The small black one, maybe a Petrel). Wonder where they sleep at night? I'm at least 500 miles from the nearest land, which is Cape Verde. Quite a long way to travel for a beakful of food.
Todays photos are those of something you don't get to see very often in the city. The Sun setting in the West and its refection due East, right across the horizon.
In good spirits. Rowing in silence and rather enjoying it.
:B

Still waters

Sunset due West

The reflection across the horizon due East