Day 22 and 23 – the final approach

Day 22 Sunday, 48 odd hours to go, you want it to be 24 odd hours to go. You’re in that time zone where you want time to fly.

But here and now you must still deal with big lumpy seas, squalls with big winds and rain that has you sprinting for your jacket. Adina is still a perfectly dry boat but we’re all wet from rain. Isn’t the Caribbean meant to offer non-stop sunshine?

What will life be without having to cling to the steps, holding on one step at a time to get on deck? Or propping yourself up in the kitchen in precarious positions to cook or clean? Never mind using the toilet!

Minds are definitely in St.Lucia now. Each of us agrees to a crew member that we’ve eaten so well on this trip but all eyes are on lobster and chips be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. And a swig of rum.

Harold enjoying the last few days at sea

Lot’s of looking at miles to go, calculating arrival time. What will it be like to stand on hard ground, will there be someone to catch us as we step off the boat, legs not used to hard terrain and collapse in a happy heap?

Scrub the crew the final episode (hopefully) took place with each crew member having there own technique for showering in lumpy seas. Our water maker has performed so very well.

Talking of final episodes, Gareth has completed his Breaking Bad-athon watching over 60 episodes on his ipad. Take that!

Sunday dinner was pork hot pot with lashings of carrots (which have survived well wrapped in foil)- yes, after 3 weeks Susie is still producing real food!

The sport of cockpit surfing whereby someone surfs from their lying spot to the cockpit floor continues and Gareth has taken the lead as he launched into the cockpit at 3.34am and connected with Tom’s knee to add insult to an already well injured body.

A shout out to Wendy & Ces who are flying over to see us – we so enjoy all your comments. But as for the race you’ve declared, let it be known we’ll be getting to Rodney Bay before you. It’s not a bad race to lose as we’d love to invite you to sundowners on Adina.

So onto Day 23, more seas, more rain. We’re working our way to the top of St.Lucia.

Given the wind direction, we’ll need a few gybes (zig-zags) to get in but all is looking good (Blog curse aside) for a Tuesday 17th arrival – best guesses are between 2-7pm UT London time. The tracker will update more frequently as we get closer (up to 15 minutes) – so do join us as we cross the finish line. Perhaps even a few last minute blog updates if we can. As ever, all your fabulous support and comments are so appreciated.

Hallie and Amelie are planning to be there to welcome us – we know Neil can’t wait. We intend to announce our arrival in “the Brits are coming” style. The girls have balloons all ready to inflate and decorate the boat (hope it’s not too windy). We have some very smart Union Jack waistcoats and bowler hats to go with our shorts and bare feet! Harold will be flapping his wings madly and we will make a lot of noise, shouting, fog horn blowing, singing, dolphin squeals.

Bring it home Adina, bring it home.