Time 18:15 local
Lat N 19° 09.3′
Lon W 65° 35.7′
Nautical miles from Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, BVI: 64.3
Nautical miles to Sandy Hook, NJ: 1350

We are off to a fast start, putting miles under the keel faster than predicted. This is tradewind sailing at its best. We are heading Northwest on a fast and comfortable beam reach. Boat speed is running at almost 8 knots in 14 to 17 knots of wind with a gentle sea. It looks like there are some rain clouds coming up behind us, but nothing serious in the forecast. If the weather model are to be trusted, we should see stable conditions like this for several days.

We are now sailing over the Puerto Rico trench, one of the deepest spots in the ocean. According to our chart there are five miles of water under us right now. We passed a large school of tuna feeding, made apparent by the sudden crowd of birds that appeared out of nowhere. Unfortunately they were to windward of us and we weren’t able to get close enough to put some fresh sushi in the boat.

Close to the islands there is so much saragossum weed in the water, fishing trolled lines is an exercise in frustration. It has thinned out enough now, I expect to have lines in the water tomorrow.