After a couple of days of easy trade wind sailing, a winter storm from the southern ocean started to push its way north. At 22 degrees of latitude, we’re far enough into the tropics to avoid the normal storms. But this one did push the windless high pressure area, normally situated well to our south, directly into our path.
The result was almost no swell nor wind waves, and an oily-smooth surface on the ocean – perfect swimming conditions!
We stopped the boat and reeled out a length of floating safety line astern. After a quick look around for sharks, four of us plunged in. The water temperature is about 72 degrees (22C), and after a quick shock the water felt great.
The ocean is an impossibly deep, pure blue this far offshore, but that’s not quite enough for us to be able to see the bottom 13,000’ (4000m) under the boat…
