Day 108, Year 1: Day Three of Our Passage to the San Blas
Date: Thursday, February 2, 2006
Weather: Winds 25-30 knots, Gusting 35-45
Air Temperature: 80 degrees F
Water Temperature: 78 degrees F
Latitude: N 14 degrees 28 minutes
Longitude: W 73 degrees 20 minutes
Location: Passage from Curacao to Panama, Day 3
Miles to go–546. And so far, so good. This dreaded passage is going well. We are currently about 180 miles north of the Columbian border heading across the Columbian Basin. Hopefully staying north will keep us out of the higher seas and winds. We did end up sailing to15 degrees N last night and then turned west/southwest back to 14 degrees 30 minutes. Tonight we will do the same again-head back up to 15 degrees N and then back down to 14 degrees 30 minutes. We go back and forth like this in order to keep the wind on our quarter (off to one side of the aft end of the boat). The boat is steadier with the wind slightly to one side than when it is dead behind us.
We will then stay at around 14 degrees until we get to 77 or 78 degrees W. Then we can head south to Panama.
Winds today have been between 25 and 30 knots, gusting sometimes to 35 to 45. The seas are probably about 8 feet, but are sometimes higher. Since we are traveling downwind, the increases don’t seem to effect us much. Herb says the winds here are 20 knots, but I am here to tell you that we have rarely seen 20 knots in the last 24 hours. He gains his information from weather buoys and computer models, but as we all know, predicting the weather is tricky business.
We saw our first traffic at about 1800 last night-2 cargo ships headed northeast. And then there were 2 more around 0600 this morning and then one headed southeast around 1400 this afternoon. Other than that, we have seen no other signs of life except for the occasional flying fish. We have been in contact with people, however. This morning we were successful in talking to Dave and Pam Gwinn in the Bahamas. They are friends from Shipyard Quarters in Boston and we check in with them every few days. And we connected with Susan on Day Dream and Bob on Kathryn in Curacao. Bob told us that the boat Songster is right behind us, so maybe we will see them in the San Blas. Susan has been successful in sending some of the pictures to our son Justin, so hopefully that rat picture will be on the website soon. Susan, thank you so much for taking on this tedious task for us. We truly appreciate it.
The galley queen tried to harm herself again last night. As I mentioned yesterday, I am a bit challenged with this cooking while bouncing about routine. I thought I had it together for dinner last night. I had everything cooked and just needed to get out one skillet to warm things in. Of course, you need to understand that just getting a skillet out is a trick all of its own. The skillet I was going to use is stored inside another skillet in the area below the oven. When I open that or any other cabinet, I risk everything in the cabinet spilling out if strong wave hits and bounces us about. But I was prepared. I had taken the very heavy wooden cutting board off the stove top and put it on a non-skid placement on the counter. The stove top has a metal guard about an inch and a half tall all around that holds the cutting board in place and then when it is removed, helps to hold the pots on the stove top in place. I got the skillet out safely and placed it on the stove top and bent down to put the other skillet away. Just about that time, a big wave hit us from behind and the skillet on the stove top came flying off and hit me in the back of the head. Thankfully, it was not a cast iron skillet. I was fine, but so much for being prepared. I have braces that I should have had in place to hold the skillet tight, but I had neglected to get those out. Live and learn, but I had better learn a little faster if I want to survive!
Night watches are going well, but I am having trouble sleeping when we are bouncing and rolling. As a result, I have to spend part of my day napping. The days already feel too short without sleeping part of the time away, so I am hoping that I am now used to the movement and will sleep better tonight. Mark has been sleeping fine, so at least the captain is well rested. I was on watch for sunrise this morning and it was another beautiful event. I do love watching the first amber hue in the sky turn to dusky pinks, then brighter pinks with shades of blue mixed in. I will be fascinated to see if sunrises in the Pacific have the same colors. It is magnificent to watch here and I am certainly looking forward to seeing Pacific sunrises and sunsets.
The air temperature is 2 degrees cooler at this higher latitude and the water temperature is 2 degrees cooler as well. I learned in the Gulf Stream that I cannot depend on our high tech built-in water thermometer. Right now it reads 104 degrees F. Not correct. I am using an old aquarium thermometer that we have had for years. To get the water temperature, I fill the forward head with sea water and take the temperature that way. I learned this trick from Rein Ciarfella who sent the suggestion to our website. Thanks, Rein. This system really works.
