June 17th

This morning started with screeching sound of the fishing line. It was about 5:30 am and the sky was bright. Gavin and I were on the 2-6 am watch. (The best time to be on watch). I had just finished taking a bunch of pictures with the backstay and shrouds bisecting a colorful sky. Then nature offered up a blue fin tuna. The score is now 2 for 3 with 1 draw. That is, 3 bait taken by fish, 2 fish caught, and one long nylon rope caught (that has to be a draw!). It was beautiful - about 2 foot long with gorgeous pectoral fins. A bloody affair followed. And, then Gavin, Jared, and I talked for a little while, seemingly reconciling with what had just transpired. Being mostly vegetarian, it was quite an event for me. Perhaps, Gibran says it best in his book, The Prophet: 'That we will be consumed by life some day as we consume life now'. The reality was so violent and yet so human and very far from simply shopping the seafood section at a grocery store.

About speeds and ETA's. For sometime now, we anticipated picking up speed and bumping up the average much like a commodity market in contango where the futures are higher than the spot prices. Now, it is as if the trend has reversed, backwardation. The new ETA is possibly Thursday of next week.

There was one vessel sighting around dinner this evening. A small boat in the distance. Since large vessel sightings happen on our watch, Gavin, Phil and I are contemplating staying below for the rest of the trip. And, so we hope to have no more sightings to report!

Aboard the boat, the half-way party was very upbeat. Good wine, tuna, carrot salad, corn, and mashed potatoes. I will leave it to others to write more about that. Now off for a little nap before I have to get back up for the 10 pm shift.

Gautam