Transit to St. Croix: Nov 5th-Nov 9th

Nov 5, 2025:

Departure Day! The day started at 0830 with an all hands muster and a rousing call to action by the Captain to be diligent sailors ensuring the safety of the ship, shipmates and ourselves while also utilizing this time to enrich our experience and enjoy the time to learn new skills.

Before casting off we said our farewells to land for the next few days. Once we had gotten moving we had a relaxed lunch followed by a run through of our safety drills, everyone performed their jobs swimmingly! Post drills we began our watch rotations with Alpha watch taking the deck, and setting out lines for fish. We are hoping to both eat and do prints of said fishies. At 1600 Alpha watch handed the con over to Bravo watch and went below for a quick rest until the all hands call 40 minutes before dinner, time to raise the rest of the sails! After a beautiful sunset and even better moonrise came a delicious dinner courtesy of our fabulous cook, the dolphins came to visit! We suspect we were headed through a pod as there were so many. They rode our bow wave and seemed to take turns cycling in and out. There is something very comforting about being at sea at night and suddenly hearing a breath from an animal break the surface

Nov 6, 2025:

Under the stunning moonlight, Denis Sullivan continues her voyage south. With all her lower sails set, Deni cruises through the night. Her engines, Patty & Selma, take a long-deserved slumber, as they have been kept to a minimum. As she sails underway, the courageous crew of Bravo Watch lay aloft for their first rig check of the transit – ensuring that Deni is kept in tip top shape. The crew takes diligent effort to take care of the ship, so in turn, she can take care of us.

Meanwhile, in Charlie Watch, traditional navigation is underway. The swaying of the vessel creates a seaworthy challenge — to accurately sight the angle of the sun at Local Apparent Noon.

A deckhand catches his first fish, a 24” tuna.

The ship’s library is scoured for folklore and voyage tales.

A Mate takes a bucket shower on the starboard side.

All is well onboard.

Knock on wood.

Nov 7, 2025:

A bird to begin the day, a bird to end it.

Our first Maginificent Frigate Bird, seen just after sunrise somewhere on the western edge of the Sargasso Sea, a sign of tropical waters soon to come. Holding these Caribbean dreams close, we watch as the barometer steadily drops and the first dark clouds appear on the horizon. Winds pick up. At 10:30, we call All Hands to put a single reef in the mains’l. With the crew occupied, someone remembers to check on the cook — she has taken ill due to rough seas. Hands in the galley now, hands in the bilge, hands on the main, and hands aloft on the fore to address the starboard aft futtock shroud stay, late after the watch bell has come and gone.

Lightning. Showers pummel the deck and sails. All is wet above and below, for we track and slip and trip and drip seawater everywhere we go. The sun sets without ceremony, masked by a bank of rain.

The day’s second avian flier, a small grey songbird with yellow wingbars, lands on the mizzen boom-jaws for a deep breath; inhaling the rain, and exhaling lemonade.

Nov 8, 2025:

In the last 24 hours we have avoided two lighting storms, beem rocked around considerably, avoided a rocket landing zone, answered a distress call that ended up just beng someone letting us know theyre headed home, ate some very delicious food, admired the specific hue of the ocean water around us, felt grateful for ship we stand on and that she only leaks a little, all in all a gratifying day going to sleep tired and accomplished, curious about what tommorow will hold.

Nov 9th, 2025:

This morning a 5:30 all hands call led into a busy day here on Deni. We took in sail then, before two watches headed back to sleep before yet another all hands call to reset the sails later in the morning to help us get back on course after dealing with storms all night(are we sensing a pattern here folks?) A great lunch was in store, however, followed by a delightfully warm and restorative afternoon, even for those on watch. More delicious supper and a great sunset before the temp started to drop as we got close to the coast of NC and storms moved around us, lightning and the moon right next to each other.