Happy Easter Sunday Eye fans,
***Life on board***
7:20am- The wind calmed overnight and has shifted a little to the east (to our great relief) and the boats motion was calm and relaxing all night. Yesterday we noticed, and now more so, that the air is cooler than before and jackets were required last night sitting outside. The water temperature (according to our sensor under the boat) is unchanged so perhaps a cooler wind from the south has made it to us. We are making a heading of about 250 degrees. I logged into the ham radio email to get more wind forecast data. Adam is on watch reading. Trevor and Will are sleep soundly.
Once everyone started moving around, Adam set to work on an Easter Sunday breakfast. We all sat down to the cleared and unfolded dining room table while the windvane steered us happily along. We had soft boiled eggs, peas and carrots, pita bread, crackers, cheese, and sliced pears. A great breakfast feast.
Around noon, much reading was accomplished and everyone lazed about. Alan read part of 'Evolution's Captain' aloud to Trevor and Will. It is quite a timely story to read on our way to the first island that Charles Darwin visited in the Galapagos. Can't wait to get there.
2:09pm- A ship is spotted! Our first sighting of another ship since our departure. She is pretty far off to our north but we try channel 16 on the VHF just in case. A response! She replies to our hails in French and Adam (having studied french in high school) is able to learn that she is called "Lazareene" and is also sailing for the Galapagos but bound for a different island. She left around the same time as us. We kept track of her for about 3 hours before the large rolling swells obscure her from our view once again.
6:00pm- As the sun is going down we hang out in the cockpit and, to our surprise, watch as a pretty big bird starts circling the boat. This is a new bird, one which we have not seen until now. He makes a close pass and a bold attempt at what (to him) must be most akin to a jet making an aircraft carrier landing at sea. He is eying the protruding railing of our bow pulpit and makes his approach. Unfortunately he has sorely misjudged his distance and, instead of perching gracefully, his upper torso makes pretty rough contact with the railing rather than his extended landing gear. Seemingly unfazed he backs off and sets up for another approach. This time he stumbles but is able to recover and pulls it off. Obviously tired (or maybe just lazy) he has been sitting there ever since (nearly 2 hours so far) despite our close investigation of him with up close cameras and an attempt to see if he likes crackers (he doesn't). We have named him "Bobby".
8:00pm- With the sun down we are settling in for our 6th night offshore since leaving Panama. Adam is working on a fish stew in the pressure cooker and Trevor and Will are already thinking ahead to some fried fish tomorrow OR perhaps some grilling? The wind and sea will tell if that might be possible. Will is working on his computer and treating us to some new tunes from his I-pod (new music on the boat is always a welcome thing), Trevor is taking a rest and Adam is on deck taking his watch as his stew is stewing in the galley.
***The Boat***
7:20am- With lighter wind and cloudy overcast skies, the chances that any major battery charging will result are slim. The batteries however are still feeling the effects of the past days charging and are now at 85.3% of full. Later, the wind picked up and sun came out and the generator began whirring once again. So far so good with the boat.
***Communication***
This morning we checked in with the Panama Connection net as well as the Pan Pacific net this morning and spoke to "Gemini" again for their position update and to share wind conditions. They reported similar conditions and a position to our south and east.
At 10 till 7pm we checked in with "Gemini" again for another update. To our surprise they reported that they had experienced an almost windless day today and have moved just 19 miles from their mornings position. In contrast, we have made nearly 55 miles in that time. This was surprising given our close proximity to them (less than 100 miles). Surely we would have expected her to have experienced at least as much if not better pressure than us being farther south. I guess if just goes to show that nothing is a sure thing out on the ocean.
Also, as mentioned above, the WTP made sucessfull contact with the French vessel "Lazareene" also heading for Galapagos.
***Weather***
7:20am- This morning, overcast and cloudy (a medium dark grey all around) with light southerly winds. The wind forecast data retrieved for this morning indicates that perhaps we won't see any more wind shifts from the west anymore which is good news. With luck the wind will remain due south and light today and shift to the south east and build to around 10-15 knots later. With a shift like that we COULD be home free to sail a straight course for the Galapagos on a steady south-easterly (knock on wood)
8:00pm- The wind steadily built today as the sky cleared and it was a very bright and sunny day all day. We have had very steady wind all day from the south and have maintained a steady 5-6 knots on a heading of about 250 degrees. New forecasts show a shift to the SE that we are very much looking forward to.
Current Position:
1 deg 07' North
87 deg 03' West
Happy Easter everybody
Alan and Crew