Atlantic Ocean
20.18.76N
70.05.25W

We motored throughout the night and easily tracked 12 ships during our various watches. On one of my watches, I was tracking 4 at one time. Luckily, they passed well away from us so no evasive maneuvers were necessary.

Also during the night, the line of clouds that stream off Puerto Rico, across the Mona Passage and toward the Dominican Republic, held some lightening. All of it was well to the south of us and with stars directly over us, there nothing to worry about. As morning dawned, I watched a large black cloud shift from over the DR and out to sea toward us. However, the more it moved out to sea, the more the sun burned it away. Good deal! Our luck is holding.

We did have some light wind today that allowed us to sail with our spinnaker for about 5 hours making 5-6 kts. We hoisted it further up the mast this time in hopes that it would alleviate the chafing we’ve been discovering after each use. When we brought it back down, the line was once again worn but not to the extent that it had been previously. We decided that maybe some leather at the chafing point might be in order. Otherwise, we’re at a loss as to what to do next.

Our 6pm calculation reflected a possibility of another 24 hours before landfall by sail. Since weaving through reefs at sunset is not our idea of fun, we turned on the engine.

We also needed to adjust our course a bit. On our trip down, we had traveled directly south to Luperon but on our way back, we were making a direct course to the Turks & Caicos Islands from Puerto Rico which is north west. Unfortunately, this route took us over some rocky shoals and reefs; also not our idea of fun. So we angled around the shoals during the night to intersect our original route south. So far, so good.

Behind us, there is lightening in the sky over Hispaniola; above there are still stars.