Merry Christmas all!
It’s 2000 here aboard the Picton Castle as we sail west into a gorgeous Christmas evening sunset. We had an amazing sunny day, the hatch was full of gifts and our hand made stockings were full to the brims with goodies. By 1000 am everyone was awake and gathered amidships around the beautifully decorated little tree. The two youngest crew members on board, John-boy of New York and Dawson of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, handed out the gifts that surrounded the tree. Christmas music played throughout the ship and the Christmas cookies/baking that had been prepared the week before were laid out for all to indulge in. Joy had by all. It’s a rare occasion where all 37 of us are together for a substantial period of time, so today’s proceedings truly felt like family coming together around the tree, playing, laughing and loving one another. Being surrounded by miles and miles of blue blue blue ocean, as far as the eyes can see, there are less distractions and an emphasis is put on focusing on what is in front of you… mostly the desserts. Today our Picton Castle crew was a Picton Castle family. To top it off we were blessed with lovely Indian Ocean sailing, our stuns’ls have stayed set for two days now, with their canvas billowing full of Indian Ocean trade winds, like our bellies are more than full of delicious food. We had a fantastic meal made by our talented cook Donald of Grenada, and his lovely assistant, Stephanie of British Columbia; fish, steak, scalloped potatoes, fried chicken, not just any fried chicken but Donald Fried Chicken, DFC for short. To top it all off we were spoiled with nanaimo bars and fruit cake, thanks to Sammy! With ice cream for desert. We are having quite the feed today!
Wishing you all a happy and healthy Christmas from the Indian Ocean. Lots of love, the Picton Castle World Voyage 7 crew.
From: Bali, Indonesia
Towards: Rodrigues
Date: Tuesday December 25th, 2018
Noon Position: 15°01.8′ S x °8741.5’E
Course + Speed: W + 4.4 kts
Wind direction + Force: SSE + 3
Swell Height + Direction: 1-2m + SE
Weather: Sunny, hot
Day’s Run: 103.5 nm
Passage Log: 1938.2 nm
Distance to Port: 1417 nm
Voyage: 15714.0 nm
Sails Set: All sails set including stuns’ls