Day 3 – The poo hits the fan

We made sail for the sheltered bay of Lopez Mendez and anchored in about 5m of sandy bottom. We were soon snorkeling and diving among the granite boulders with rays turtles and angelfish. The surface of the warm water was a clear layer of tannin tinted water from the run-off from the rain forest, but below that the water was crystal clear.

Ash and Freddie went to climb coconut palms and brought back 4 good sized coconuts.

We then set about cleaning up for the atlantic crossing.

Suddenly our happy buzz was destroyed by a whooshing noise followed by the most incredible rush of profanities that any of us had ever witnessed. Freddie had flushed the heads without opening the stopcocks. The pressure had burst the outflow pipe leading to the contents being explosively deposited over the walls, floor and Freddie. It was horribly spectacular.

The only thing hat we could do to help him was to pass him buckets of salt water through the porthole so that he could sluice himself and the walls and toilet bowl down. His clothes are doomed to a black bag in the sugar scoop, never to see light of day again.

So we set our course for Tristan da Cuhna in a fine rain that cooled us off and as we passed the outer reef Sean hooked a mackeral that we let go, then a nice size tuna. Freddie hooked his first fish, a small dorado, but failed to gaff it and it got away.

We settled into our night shifts and the phosphorescence in our wake kept us spellbound through the night.