Pretty soon after 10 pm. the moon hid behind the clouds. The sea was dark, than BLAM! Thunder. Ok, thunder does seem rather loud when it is echoing on all four sides! No worries. We knew that there were storms coming....CRACKLE, BANG, THUD, POUND...POUND....POUND...(that last part was my heart!) haha.
Lightening! Thunder! Rain! And surprisingly not a lot of wind. At some point the sky just stopped making all this commotion and it seemed as if God had made a path for us, just above our heads. Their were stars overhead. Lightening all around off in the distance. The rain quit for a while, just a light drizzle. The wind was light. THe moon was still unseen. So I thanked the Good Man for his little protective bubble that seemed to be around us. Stewart and I did the 1 am to 5 am shift with no problems. The lightening show around us was spectacular, leaving me with no need to have a second cup of coffee. haha.
Around 3 am. I did see an unusual florescent green cloud come up from under the boat! It lasted all of 20 seconds than disappeared. So either Moby Dick had indigestion underneath the boat or it was some sort of alien oil spill...haha you make up your mind on that one. Either way it was a bit odd, but that's what is fun about the night shift. You always see something; even in the dark.
We were happy that we took the route we did. Coast Guard came on the radio several times to broadcast the many whales in and around Santa Barbara and Catalina. That is also where most of the storm was focusing all its energy as well. So I am very thankful we took the long way.
This morning Neil and Katie took over the early shift and had a bit of a scare. The lightening came back and this time they feared it was going to strike the boat. They had two or three hits fairly close by. So they shut down all of the electronics and unplugged everything from our outlets. Just as they finished this they said the lightening struck less than a mile behind the boat. It was a huge flash than a KABOOM!! As quickly as it sprang up on them, it was gone. The next thing I heard was...." Double Rainbow!"....haha, if you haven't seen that one on you tube I suggest you google it! It is hilarious. Now we weren't all like "what does it mean?" it was more like..."is it over?". Then the rain came.
Today it has been mostly rain with little wind followed by no rain and holy moly we're going 7 knots! We are south of the Channel Islands now. We are about 51 nautical miles out of Santa Catalina and about 8 miles north of San Nicolas Island.
We hope to blow on through and pull into San Diego early Thursday morning, if not sooner.
It has been a great trip so far and I hope it continues. I was happy that Stewart got to meet his friend Gabby and had a great time together. I am glad we are almost completely over the flu. I am sorry we didn't get to meet up with and say goodbye to a few others, but am thankful for the times we had. I am glad that we have taken the longer route and given ourselves a good shakedown cruise. I think our little boat and crew are going to do just fine and will take us wherever we want to go. The kids are great navigators. The puppies are unfazed by the movement. Neil is loving it of coarse. I am getting over any fears I had previously. I am loving the ever changing water and am "respecting the elements."
The seals are chasing the boat again. The are like a bunch of dolphins, jumping out of the water, together in formation...perhaps they are fleeing from something?? yikes! I haven't seen them do that since the Farallon's. Now Neil is anxious to catch a fish...I think I will go give him a hand. Here's to some fair wind with following seas tonight!
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