Day 51 – 2 Milestones coming up, Fish Toothpaste, Meteors

20 Apr, 07 – 21.30    
16.2353N,38.4997W
24 hr progress: 36.8 Nautical Miles
Distance to Antigua: 2499 Nautical Miles
Total Distance Rowed: 1757
Distance left to Antigua (straight line): 1262 Nautical Miles ( 2334 km) (1 NM = 1.85 km)
Wave height: 8-10 ft, Winds: 15-20 knots NE, Bearing: 290-310 degrees.

This morning I was woken up from my sleep by dolphin whistling in their high pitch around the boat. What a way to be woken up! The dolphin's whistling sounds are incredibly loud from inside the cabin. My guess it's because there is just an inch of fiberglass between my head and the sea when I lie down at the back.
The awful weather looks like it's here to stay. At least, it's awful weather in the right direction with 15-20 knot winds. So the end result is not too bad. The waves are rough, so its more surfing and steering down the waves with the oars rather than rowing.
I'd rather be resting, but tying to squeeze every mile I can get out of her before the halfway point.
I have made up for about 5 days of lost time out of a total of 14 days. I had earlier planned to reach the half way mark after 6 weeks. We are 10 days behind schedule which is not too bad in the Atlantic sized scheme of things.
A bit concerned about the rudder and am keeping an eye on it to see how it holds over the next few days. My next best option would be to execute plan B, which is to lift it higher than now, so there is less water pressure on it.
On schedule for reaching my two 'ginormous' milestones tomorrow...
1. Crossing my halfway point at 1250 Nautical Miles to Antigua
2. Turning the map over to the Western half of the Atlantic.
As I mentioned here before, I have kept my options open on landfall at other islands, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Barbados. I will take the decision when I am about 500 nautical miles way, taking into account food, water, situation of the leak and ability to steer to Antigua.
Another notable achievement of the day.. I located the source of the rotten fish smell that has been driving me crazy for the past few days. I discovered that 2 flying fish had found their way underneath the bilge boards. (the bilge is the standing room that is just outside the cabin and before you step onto the deck.)
They must have been marinating quite well the afternoon heat, as they had turned into brown-silver “fish-toothpaste”. I gave them as respectable a burial at sea as possible by scraping them up with an empty Pringles tin, which also doubled up as their coffin.
Todays menu from the kitchen – Chicken casserole, Pasta in tomato sauce, vanilla yogurt, ration of chocolate and nuts, protein bars.
As I write this, it's pitch dark outside and bits of the Milky Way can be seen through the clouds in the sky. Tonight, I am looking forward to the peak of the April Lyrids (the fast meteor showers) that's due on the 22nd. At the peak, it's about 15 meteors an hour. Hopefully, there will be a preview show on tonight. What a way to celebrate the the half way point!
B
Send a satellite SMS message: http://www.bhavik.com/crossatlantic/messages.asp
Email: mail@bhavik.com
Get automatic alerts: http://www.humanedgetech.com/expedition/bhavik/newsletter/index.php


Taken at 09.21 GMT

View from inside the cabin, thru the plexiglass hatch

Freeze dried pasta. An everyday debate between level of hunger and amount of taste