The Southern Ocean

Today is Curare's 16th day on passage, all of it in the Southern Ocean. The first week or so were not the most pleasant sailing conditions and I thought of little else besides staying upright and unhurt but the last three days have been perfect; Geoff says it is like "sailing across the Straight of Georgia" except we are hundreds of miles from the nearest land. Since I no longer have to hang on so tightly, and since waves are not crashing over the boat and I can sit out on deck, here are some of the things that I have noticed.

1. The water is a startling brilliant blue colour, more beautiful than the finest Venetian glass, but I cannot capture it in a photograph despite using almost an entire memory card.
2. The northern constellations have slowly disappeared and I can no longer see the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, Castor and Pollux, or Cygnus. Instead I see the Southern Cross, Scorpius (my favourite) and numerous other constellations/stars that I am not familiar with. Compared to the northern sky there are many more bright stars in the southern sky; they really do look like jewels on a piece of velvet.
3. There seems to be very few critters swimming about. Jessie has not had any dolphins to bark at since we left the Galapagos and we have not caught any fish to eat. But we didn't catch any fish in the northern ocean either so a lack of fish on the line does not mean they are not there. We have seen several large schools of flying fish, some of them deposited on the deck when waves crashed over us, and that is all.
4. Birds do not seem to care that they are hundreds of miles offshore. Every day we see at least one bird flying around the boat, at times they are a flock of four, but mostly it is just one. The bird is about the size of a small seagull, is white in colour and has a small tail feather "barb" projecting from it's squared off tail. I have never seen one land so I do not know if they can swim, and I have never seen one dive into the water to catch a fish so I have no idea how they survive.
5. The southern ocean is very clean. In the north I was so used to seeing pieces of flotsam and jetsam (mainly plastic) floating past the boat that I am amazed how pristine the water is here. It looks a lot more inviting that some of the lakes I have swum in, but I am not going to take the plunge because I think it is probably cold (plus we are sailing too fast). Everyone talks about how polluted the world's oceans have become but you would never know that if you were on this passage.
6. The temperature is now cool at night and I hauled out a blanket for the bed plus a sweater for night watch. The days are still warm enough for shorts and a T-shirt but nights are chilly at 22 C. I know this is a summer temperature for most Canadians but I have been living in 30 C or warmer temperatures for 5 months and believe me when I say that 22 C feels like it should be forming ice.
7. There is not a lot of boat traffic. On this trip we have visually seen four other vessels and we have not "seen" any others on radar. When I read stories about mishaps at sea there is always a friendly freighter nearby who is diverted for a rescue but since we have not seen any other boats I am starting to wonder how many of these stories are true, or does the freighter divert 600 to 800 miles out of their way to come to your assistance? I highly doubt it.
8. Geoff has grown a face full of fur, he looks more like a prospector than a sailor, which proves you can't take the geologist out of him, not even by sailing away.

At our current pace we should be arriving at Easter Island in a few days time.