I sleep badly – again. I was beginning to think I had this broken sleep thing cracked but the last couple of days has totally proved me wrong. I am just so tired I can’t relax enough to get to sleep and can’t take anything to help me in case I am groggy when I wake up.
I sit and watch the sun rise. It still fascinates me that it can be totally dark one minute then a couple of minutes later you can distinguish the horizon, then suddenly you realise it’s light and about ten minutes later you can see the sun. With nothing to obscure the view – no trees, no buildings – everything is so much … more.
There is a lot more blue sky today and although we still make good steady progress, the wind has dropped a little but still keeps us on course.
When Mike gets up he puts the generator on then the water maker but the bloody thing doesn’t make any water. We have enough to get to Cocos Keeling so it’s not that important to fix it now while the boat is lurching around so much but I get angry with Mike for not putting it on every day and keeping the tank full to the brim. He initially decides to leave the problem solving until we arrive at our destination but curiosity and the desire to fix the problem (and the desire to stop me having a full on strop) takes over and he goes down into the black hole and discovers that the problem is simply an air lock and sorts it out.
Having failed to get to sleep after my second watch, I try again after lunch. No joy. After an hour and a half Mike goes down for a sleep instead. I keep myself occupied by making banana bread and pumpkin soup, thereby cooking most of the raw fruit and vegetables we have left on board to satisfy the quarantine regulations that we will find when we get to Cocos Keeling. The soup, as usual, is wonderful but the banana bread is a bit of a disaster, looks-wise. Mike tips it out but the crust all around it stays stuck to the non-stick surface of the pan and the innards collapse out onto the plate. I leave it to cool for a little while then detach the crust from the pan little by little, then plonk it over the rest of it, which now looks suspiciously like a banana cow pat. I squish it all together and it’s fine for Mike and I (and tastes good). I’m just glad it doesn’t have to be served up to anyone else!
By the early evening I am so exhausted that it’s easy for one of my periodic lows to take over. I sit, tears forming in my eyes but not enough of them to make them drop, and just wish I was at home. It takes less than an hour for it to pass. I just hate these passages and the knowledge that we only have three days in Cocos Keeling then another passage of at least two weeks fills me with dread.
Again, when I go below to sleep, it takes me nearly two hours to drop off, even though I could swear that I would fall asleep immediately.
Our position is: 11 deg 52 min S, 103 deg 41 min E
Distance so far: 13566 nautical miles
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