Message from sea - Monday Morning

Well, we've had an eventful evening and morning since I talked to you last night. I mentioned we were in the Gulf Stream and going fast but I underestimated how fast we were going to go! We ended up with a new overall Mary Elizabeth speed record of 11.8 knots while in it! We then did between 10 and 9 knots until well into the wee small hours. After we exited the Stream the wind completely died away and we glided along all night in flat seas and all of us agree we had the best night's sleep of the trip. This morning it's gorgeous, sunny, warm and the ocean was perfectly flat, like a lake. Had we been able to pull a water skier, it would have been perfect conditions.


I woke up today for the 0700 check-in to the smell of bacon. Ross made us all bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches. Again, it's nice to have calm seas sometimes because the meals get so much better.

But the highlight of the morning (it's only 0900) is the all the aquatic life we've seen. It's amazing. We've seen multiple pods of large porpoises feeding. And several pods of small whales! I think they're pilot whales. The adults are about 13-15' long with a dorsal fin on the back. Very, very cool. We also motored past a shark of about 8' that was sunning himself, dorsal and tail fins sticking up through the water.


Currently we're still chugging along in calm winds at about 7.5 knots and with no changes we should be at Kingman between 7 and 8 tomorrow morning. I can't wait! But there's actually a lot to do, particularly clearing customs. I'm not sure who to call yet on the Cape to announce our arrival or whether or not they'll let us check in over the phone or have to meet us at the dock. I'll figure it out though....