Day 4, Gibraltar to Canary Islands

0730Z 01DEC18, Day 4, Gibraltar-Canary Islands. We are now consistently sailing! We turned off the engine around 1130 yesterday and have been sailing since. We are sailing downwind and were using our asymmetric until around 0300. By that time the winds were sitting around 20 knots, so in watch turnover Jon and I worked the sail change. We have switched to the heavier jib and continue to make good progress. We have gybed once and will likely gybe again today, perhaps a time or two. The seas have developed a little bit with the wind and we are getting rolled about at times, but it is still comfortable overall.

96 hour progress: 431.2 nm, 4.5 kts avg SOG.  We expect to make landfall tomorrow afternoon.

Whales! Jon spotted spouts in the water and we all came out expecting to see a pod of dolphins. Instead there were 3 whales at the surface. We sailed relatively close to them and they continued to spout. They seemed to be smaller than our boat and had a very small dorsal fin. We will have to look up what type of whale they might have been when we have internet again. They did not seem to mind our passing by. One picked up its head like he wanted to get a look, but they did not come over to the boat and we sailed on.

Everyone is well and we have all settled into a bit of a rhythm. The boys continue to make progress with their school work, stand watches, and play together. We've been cooking and eating well and are all happy with the passage so far.

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