We have four days at sea on Le Lyrial to Cape Town during this South Atlantic crossing, with a favourable weather forecast, which will be a vast improvement on the 2012 crossing.
Monday March 19, 2018
A typical grey overcast South Atlantic morning. Commandant Garcia advises us mid-morning that the outside temperature of 15 degrees Celsius is actually colder than the sea temperature of 18 degrees, which seems extraordinarily warm.
He is also happy to advise that we have outrun the weak low-pressure system that was tailing us from Tristan da Cunha, and that we are heading into a high-pressure system that will provide good sailing conditions in the South Atlantic until we reach Cape Town, three days from now.
Tuesday March 20, 2018
A mostly sunny day today, and Le Lyrial is barely troubled by the swell. We have more than 700 nautical miles in the South Atlantic Ocean to go before we reach Cape Town. There are spectacled petrels following the ship, and the occasional greater shearwater and black-browed albatross.
We have yet to see any whales, and in fact, haven’t seen any since the Falklands.
Wednesday March 21, 2018
Bright but overcast today, with improved sea conditions. Le Lyrial is so stable I have to look out the window occasionally to check that we are actually moving. Not much bird life around the ship in this part of the South Atlantic.
Thursday March 22, 2018
We are on schedule to arrive at the Cape of Good Hope for sunrise tomorrow morning. In the meantime, there is a golden sunset, with a container ship on the horizon, which means we must be in the shipping lanes or nearby.
