Mid-ocean Swim
9˚31.423’ S, 15˚21.285’ W
We’ve been motoring almost exclusively since we left St. Helena four days ago. I’ve been slowly catching up on posting what we saw there, but this post is about today’s events.
Dan made a fresh loaf of bread and finished knitting a beanie for me during his 12-3 a.m. watch. I made some snickerdoodles during my 6-10 a.m. watch. We had our very first encounter with a cargo ship, who kindly altered his course by 10 degrees to go around us.
But the real highlight of the day was stopping the engines at noon and doing a “bottom check” on the boat. That involved all of us getting on our swim suits and jumping in the water! There weren’t enough diving masks to go around, but those that had them inspected the rudders, propellers and through-hulls for anything amiss. Other than some growth on one of the rudders, Coda‘s underside was in good shape.
The chart wasn’t terribly specific, but the depth of the water was somewhere between 3000-4000 meters (9800-13000 feet). The sea was about as calm as the sea can be, but even so we had to be careful underneath the boat because there were still swells that lifted the stern of the boat and then dropped it rather abruptly (hopefully not on anyone’s head).
It’s not often that one has a chance to be next to a boat while it’s in the water. Swimming next to Coda felt very similiar to being close to a very large horse: mostly calm and gentle, but could squash you with the slightest twitch.