Day 24 Atlantic Ocean

Saturday at first light, the sky and water are battleship gray. The rest of the day is partly sunny. The wind is from the northeast. There is some spray from the top of the whitecaps, so this is probably Beaufort 5. I am not able to read as much when we have this much roll. Saw dolphins from the bridge this morning. I have only seen one other ship since Philadelphia.

We had another time zone change last night, and are on GMT, 6 hours ahead of CST. Last night after dark, I was watching the wake, and listening to music on the ipod, when the 'Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' came up. The predominant swell is from the northwest, and causes the ship to yaw. When you are dancing, yaw is the twist part of 'Twist and Shout'. The swell hits the back of the ship first, moving it. As the swell moves down the side of the ship, it straightens the ship out again. So the wake looks like a corkscrew, and disappears in another length of the ship. I stowed almost everything in drawers or the closet. The fake plant is on the floor, where it appears happier, and doesn't fall down. The cabin looks un-lived-in now. We had some pretty good rolls last night, but my cabin was quiet.

We had drills again this morning. Today, I received pyrotek training; flares and the line shooter. Afterwards, I did a small load of laundry. From the roll meter, I see the maximum roll as of midday was 16 degrees either way. At the current rate, we will make Antwerp late Sunday. The pre-Europe party will not be held this evening, because of the swells. The low is to the northwest. Winds will shift to the northwest. Higher swells are forecast. If things go well, we will enter the shelter of the English Channel after midnight. DOUBLE BLOG ENTRIES If I lose the satellite connection during transmission, the whole entry is automatically re-sent on the following upload. As of yesterday, the existing double entries have been deleted for me. I am not able to do deletes from here.