Ocean Comparisons

7th April

Lying in my bed last night it dawned on me that we have sailed in 2 oceans already. We did our day skipper in the warm Indian Ocean and our Coastal Skipper in the cold Atlantic ocean.

By reflecting and comparing the 2 trips I have a pretty good idea of the different oceans, taking my lack of knowledge and ability whilst in the Indian into account I can say the following for certain. The Atlantic was teaming with animal and bird life whilst the Indian had less animal activity. A comparative list reads as follows:

Indian Ocean:

Dolphins visit 1 occasion
Seagulls in the air most days
Whale spotted on 1 occasion.

Atlantic Ocean:

Seals visit daily, almost all the time seeming to race alongside.
Penguins spotted 1 occasion
Whales spotted 2 occasions
Jellyfish spotted in deeper water
Seagulls fill the air
Other bird life everywhere including Cormorants and ducks
The water in the Atlantic is very cold, making the boat hull cold to the touch and dark coloured decks easy to walk on (you normally need shoes it’s so cold). Wear a jacket and long pants whenever sailing and swimming is completely out of the question. The water of the Indian is warm, the hulls are hot and any dark coloured non-skid means burning feet on hot decks. A quick swim whilst anchored is welcome relief from the heat, a pair of shorts or a costume are the order of the day.

I realised from this trip that it is not the wave height that counts but rather the wavelength, comforting, as before leaving we checked the weather on windfinder and found 4.5 metre waves forecast. We compared this to other objects and realised the waves would be the height of our house! For a landlubber that seems pretty steep but once we were out there we managed just fine, gliding over the swells without a second thought. Being on a cat that also meant not heeling over.

I also discovered I suffer from seasickness! Barry said I literally turned green!
Boy oh boy, not the fun I had in mind, but the Sturgeron tablets I took worked like a charm. I will definitely be stocking up on those before we cast the lines off!