Official Jessica Watson Blog

Today started with a lovely sunrise as Ella's Pink Lady sailed over the green line on the chart and into Australian waters. Hot chocolate in hand (yes I managed to repair the kettle!), a light sprinkling of rain and with an albatross circling above, it was one of those really special moments.

But we've still got a long way to go and over the next week we will pass under the Great Australian Bight and head south to Tasmania. It's very likely that I'll pass back over the green line out of Australian waters again. It's weird being so close, but still having so many miles to cover.

I think a lot of people are wondering why I'm going south of Tasmania, rather than taking a short cut through the Bass Strait. The reasoning behind this is that Bass Strait is full of shipping and islands which would mean a few days with very little or no sleep for me. Plus Bob's long range weather forecast also predicts light head winds (also known as very painful sailing) if we tack that route, instead of heading south around the bottom of Tasmania. So I'm just going to have to grit my teeth and put up with a slight drop in temperature again, before heading north for the last time.

I found a few squid on the deck again this morning. Another one jumped on board just I was thinking about lunch, so I got brave and decided to have a go at eating it. I opened a can of prawns (they could hardly pass as prawns, tiny little things!), sliced up the squid, all half a mouth full of it (see pics below!) and made a sort of variation to garlic prawns. Then I finished up with Vegemite on crackers to celebrate being back in Australian waters!

Bruce and Big Wave Rider have struck light winds out in the Tasman which is pretty frustrating for Bruce, but I'm secretly thrilled not to be the slow one for once!

There's another exciting milestone coming up very soon too as we'll be passing under Cape Leeuwin at some stage tomorrow morning!


Jesse