***Life on board***
Today has been a quiet day. We have made some good progress with a more steady wind and lots of sleeping was done during most of the day. Adam and Will did get off one chess game in the early afternoon in which Will was the victor.
We put out our trusty cedar plug trolling lure once more this morning and it has been soaking all day with no fish to show...yet.
Our pot of rice and beans is still lingering in the galley. Perhaps we made just a bit too much of it for the three of us. In general our appetites have gone down quite a bit even in the first couple of days out and with easy sailing and lots of sleep, a mostly sedentary lifestyle, we don't need much. We cut up one of our Papayas today but found it to be not quite ripe and mostly like eating an apple that tasted a little bit like a papaya. I also made some hot water and filled the thermos for the night watch. I'm not much of a coffee drinker so I went looking for some tea. We have a pretty good selection of Tea but about half of them were "organic nighty night tea" which probably wouldn't do for a night watch.
The "bio luminescence" that causes little pankton in the water here to glow when disturbed is very abundant and bright here. While motoring last night we left in our wake a 3 foot diameter tunnel of light just under the surface churned up by the spinning propeller that was so bright as to almost spoil your night vision. Our bow wake was just as awesome sending bright splashes of glowing water 10 feet out on either side of the boat with every wave. It looked as though we had installed white neon lights all round the outside of the hull.
We have seen birds still today. Small black swallow-like birds as well as larger white and grey birds which almost always have been in pairs.
***The Boat***
The batteries remained topped off all day thanks to the wind generator and strong sunlight.
***Communication***
This morning we made contact via the "Pan Pacific" radio net and gave our check in and position. We know of at least 4 other boats ahead of us en route to the Marquesas all of which have between 1 and 3 days lead of our position.
***Weather***
The sun rose and fell bright today and the sky remained a clear blue almost the entire day save for some thin low clouds on the horizon in the evening. The wind has slowly shifted more and more to the south and we hope that by tomorrow the wind will be off our port quarter and we will be able to make our course on at least a beam if not a broad reach. We think we are also starting to feel the effects of the favorable SEC current and this evening we have been making steady 7 knots sometimes more over the ground.
Position (2:27pm):
01 deg 33' S
91 deg 55' W
Position 9:00pm):
01 deg 41' S
92 deg 51' W
Alan and the Crew