13 Jun 2011 depart St. Martin 17 Jul 2011 arrive Flores Azores 2296 miles.

The GRIBs predict light and variable on the line headed north. Should be a slow trip. French bridge departure of St. Martin in the A.M. The wind is blowing well south of east and I could lay the east end of Anguilla, so this is the first time I took that route. Very pretty beach on the west of Scrub Island. After 3 days of good sailing, I’ve found the light winds. I took a look outside and a small whale surfaced a bit off the starboard quarter of my drifting boat. The beastie made a high speed run toward the boat  and stopped 6 meters off to raise it’s head out of the sea and have a good look at me. Seemed quite curious of me. I dropped below for my phone and took a couple of pictures. Pancake days, easy to cook when the boat is this flat. Spending the hours building the next version of Nimble. Hell, have enough time to start painting the deck. More programming. More painting, deck and rail now. A lot of anvil head clouds out here, full of rain and lightning. Seeing water strikes, makes me nervous, spare GPS, handheld VHF, and computer in the oven. The nasty clouds seem to form only mornings and evenings. Some wind has arrived! After only 530 miles in the last 14 days. Maybe this wind is real. Making good time now. Can’t paint any more but still working on Nimble. 200 miles remain to Flores and of course the wind has to change. Light and on the nose. Going flat enough for pancakes. Wind back up but still on the nose. A day of tacking and I’ve arrived at midnight. One of my very few nighttime landings. Fiesta days here, and having a bit of fun.