Day 47 – Shark Attack

16 Apr, 07 – 22.00    
16.3088N,37.4474W
24 hr progress: 25.8 Nautical Miles
Distance to Antigua: 2499 Nautical Miles
Distance left to Antigua (straight line): 1379 Nautical Miles ( 2551 km) (1 NM = 1.85 km)
Wave height: 5-6 ft, Winds: 10 knots E, Bearing: 240 - 280 degrees.

This is a double post for today, as the previous post was pre-occupied with details of the leak.
An additional bonus today was watching a shark attack from my ring side seat.
I was hanging half out of the rear cabin, applying my blue-tracer toothpaste to the joints on the outside of the boat. My eyes have gotten used to watching nothing but blue sky and water and my senses are ever more in tune with the surroundings. I find that I quickly notice any sound or activity, like unusually bubbly or agitated water, that has not been naturally caused by a wave.
The first sign of something unusual happening was when I noticed a smooth patch of water just just a bit north of the stern. A few minutes later, I could make out a big silver mass under the water making its way towards me, which dissolved into a school of hundreds of Doradas swimming at top speed toward the boat. A telltale sign they are being chased. I grabbed the video camera just in time to film a massive tail fin cutting an arc thru the water, heading for the fish below the boat. A few seconds later the water underneath the boat erupted into a complete war zone with fish jumping out of the water and the shark circling around, diving and re-surfacing before its next attack.
The battle went on for about three hours. A gigantic underwater stampede as hundreds of Doradas, banged into the hull of the boat, fighting for their lives, and me fighting to maintain a 'look but dont touch policy' around my rudder.
Watching the 500 pound shark hunting will remain one of the highlights of the row.
Onto, things a bit less violent, I found a packet of Minestrone soup in my ration pack. Something new that I havent tried so far. It worked out ok with cold water. The powder took a little coaxing to dissolve, but it all tasted minestrone-ish in the end. Dinner was another pack of Beef Chili finished up with freeze dried hazelnut yogurt. Snacks are being rationed ever since I lost a lot of them in the water leak, and I have been consuming at least 6 snack bars a day for the past 47 days. My half way point is coming up this week and will be doing a bit of a clean up through all the hatches onboard to see what's left and what needs to be rationed.
Very tired today and have had little sleep as I have been rowing extra hours to make up for the hours lost spent on fixing the leak.
Will post an update here on my half way mark tomorrow.
B
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Battleground near the boat

Shark underwater catching Dorad, just near the stern


Large flying fish that jumped onboard dring the attack