Sailing/Motoring from the Canary Islands to Cabo Verde – Day 2

(November 29, 2017) Prior to sailing to a new location, I usually gather information on wind speed/direction, wave speed/direction, tide, sunrise/sunset, moonrise/moonset, current time at the new location, and etc.

Moon set is supposed to be around 3 AM today. As I like night watch under moonlit, I stayed outside listening to an audio book (“Principles” by Ray Dalio, I like this book a lot, and this is the second time I have listened to it). Unlike intense sunlight, moonlit makes me absorb learning as a sponge does with water. After moon set, I came down inside to write this blog.

Another calm night at sea, as predicted. Even knowing the weather forecast which was for light to no winds, we made a decision to leave La Gomera Island. Otherwise, we would have to stay in the Canary Islands for another week or so. Our decision has forced us to motor. It is a reasonable decision even though a sailboat is not nearly as much fun motoring as it is sailing. Motoring is noisy, cats hate motoring, we hate motoring, and it just smells bad (Diesel). The cats hide at a location as far away from the engine sound as they can get. Since they do not eat much when motoring, I feed them some ‘Kitty Treats’ by hand.

Last night, we caught a dangerously weird looking fish. It looked like a snake or an eel. After looking at it; we realized there is no way we want to eat that fish. John grabbed it near its head, un-hooked, and threw it back into the ocean. Later, we looked it up in the “Fish Book” and found that it is “Atlantic Cutlassfish (Ribbonfish, Silverfish)”. Books says “Food Value: Forget it. Not much flesh, and very bony.” We are still hoping to catch a “Yellowfin Tuna”, not so big, just about 30 pounds.

One of my enjoyments at sea, is monitoring the ships on the AIS display. A tanker ship (333 meters long x 58 meters wide = 1000 feet long x 190 feet wide), showed its destination as “Yeosu, Korea”. Yeosu is in the South West region of South Korea. My parents were born not far from Yeosu. I have some cousins still living in Yeosu. I am hoping we sail to Yeosu someday before I am done with sailing. John often jokes that he will drop me off in North Korea to meet Kim Jung (John shortens Kim Jung-Eun’s name as he gets confused between Kim Jung-Il/father and Kim Jung-Eun/son.)

I previously worried about the security of sailing from the Canary Island to Cabo Verde. Passing this area, off the west coast of Africa, I was relieved after seeing so many tankers, freighters, and sailboats. Most of them are going in a Southerly direction. Then, following the trade wind, they head west. It seems it is the routine route crossing the Atlantic from Europe or Africa to Caribbean and Panama Canal.

It is pitch dark outside, and the Ocean is calm; no waves no wind. Good time to watch the bioluminescence at sea. As my eye sight gets better at dark, far distant about 14 miles away, I am seeing two navigational lights from other sailboats. One shows on AIS that its destination is Sin Maarten (Dutch Side of Saint Martin Island). Most likely two weeks journey at sea for them!

By Kay Chung
GPS Position: N24’53″/W18’50”


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