Saturday morning was a flurry of activity for the crew of Quest. We ran to the store for last minute shopping, said our farewells to Francine, Antonello, and Titziana.
We even had an appointment with Father Mandato, the Catholic priest in La Maddalena, who is stationed at the Chapel with the Navy. He came by at 11:00 am sharp to bless Quest and her crew. (Next time we'll ask him to calm the waters too!)
Quest departed from La Maddalena, Sardinia. We motored out of the harbor and north toward the Straits of Bonifacio. The Straits are situated between Sardinia and Corsica. We left at noon and made it to the Straits by sundown. Unfortunately, we were unable to have fair winds and following seas for too long. Most of us had trouble keeping our dinner down. We had our sails up and made three efforts to sail out of the Straits, we were challenged by swell, currents, wind direction. After the struggle we started our motor so we could keep making progress. Each night at sea is broken into shifts. Each of us spends three hours on watch to spread the load through the night. Our shifts are 5-8pm, 8-11pm, 11- 2am, 2-5am, and 5-8am. Every night the rotation changes so no one gets stuck with the same shift two nights in a row.
Day 2 We continued to have increasing swells and big breeze which made for rough seas. Some porpoise came to visit off our bow. Our focus was to keep getting closer to the Balearic Islands and keep down food.
Day 3
God must have heard our prayers; we awoke to the sun shining. The swell decreased and the breeze died down. Everyone had finally gained their “sea legs.”
Day 4 Tuesday, November 8, 2005
The reason my mother joined the crew of Quest was to grant my father Daniel Joseph Walker’s final wish. My father died of colon cancer in 2002 and wanted to have his cremated ashes spread in the Mediterranean Sea. My father loved the years he spent in the Med while in the Navy. Mom selected some lovely readings from the Bible along with the burial at sea for ashes. Jeff did the readings and we released Dad’s ashes at Latitude 40 degrees, 29 minutes, 240 seconds and Longitude 4 degrees, 47 minutes, and 510 seconds. It was a lovely ceremony.
Day 5
Welcome to Menorca! We made it to land around 0830 and found ourselves lucky. The weather forecast for the next few days calls for rough weather, big swells, and lots of rain. We plan on hunkering down here for a few days. Menorca is the eastern most island of the Balearic chain and we are excited to check out the island and eat great Spanish cuisine.
