"Arctracer" Letters

Update 6 - Ascension Island 27 February 2013

Land ho!

First: We have been having difficulty with Sailmail over the last week. Although we are able to send messages on occasion, we haven't been able to retrieve any. I haven't had any news from home since St. Helena. I miss you all! I miss Rick especially. I also miss butter (canola margarine on the boat - sad face) and jalapenos. And, of course, I miss ice cream, BUT another cruiser told us about refrigerator ice cream, so I am determined to try making it.

After six days at sea, we arrived at Ascension Island this morning (2/27)! Well...we are anchored. We can't get ashore. Jerry & I took the dinghy along with our passports and computers to where we thought we might have luck, but there were no spots that looked safe and accessible. And no one around to greet us. I take that back. A small boat filled with men motored by before we tried the dinghy. They all smiled and waved hello. I regret not having talked to them, but it didn't occur to me that they might be our only chance at getting to land today.

There are a couple things I'd like to do on Ascension, if we can manage it. It is the right time of year to see green turtles laying eggs and to see eggs hatching on the beach, so that would be nice. We have seen LOTS of turtles in the water. I'd also like to get online and check email, Facebook, etc. once more before we start our 3 week (plus?) sail to Suriname and then on to Trinidad. I have lots of photos ready to upload to FB if I get the chance to do it here. (Note: I had been planning on ending at Barbados, but we will likely go to Trinidad instead.)

We caught another mahi mahi two days ago, which resulted in two of my favorite meals of the trip so far. The first night we had mahi mahi fillets with sweet potatoes and a slaw of cabbage, carrots, homemade dressing (for Grace: rice vinegar, lemon juice, oil, soy sauce, sherry) & toasted sesame seeds. The second night we had fish stew and johnny cake.

There are so many triggerfish under the boat here. They're very cute. I put string on my GoPro and dropped it into the water and many of them swam right up to it. Also, I learned today that Plastic Kyle MacLachlan floats. He is safe. If someone is up to it please tweet something like the following: "@BrooklynHilary emailed to say Plastic @Kyle_MacLauchlan floats! Whew." The real Kyle may favorite it or reply - he is following this thing.

Our noon coordinates since my last email:
Monday 2/25: 10 deg 04' S, 12 deg 09' W
Tuesday 2/26: 8 deg 44' S, 13 deg 28' W
Wednesday 2/27 (8:15am arrival at Ascension): 7 deg 55' S, 14 deg 24.86' W

The only thing that has broken since my last update is my small gorillapod, which I was using regularly with the GoPro. The pieces snap together, but no longer hold. Bummer.

Hope to send another update soon!

Sailor Hilary