Day 189, Year 1: Back to Sailing–Day 3
Date: Monday, April 24, 2006
Weather: Alternates Between Clear and Totally Overcast, Some Squall Activity
Water Surface Temperature: 76 degrees F
Latitude: 03 degrees 30 minutes S
Longitude: 095 degrees 21 minutes W
Location: Passage from Galapagos to the Marquesas, Day 3
Miles to Go: 2728 (~125 miles last 24 hours)

We’ve had another good day. We motor sailed through the night and into the day, but we are currently sailing with a full main and headsail going 6.6 over ground, 5.8 through the water, which means we are finally getting a boost from a favorable current. Right now we have 12 to 15 knots of wind, rising to 18 to 20 when we go through a “storm patch”-my name for an area of convection activity. The sun is setting and it is raining a bit right now. This is the first rain we have seen on this passage, but the skies look as if we might have squall activity through the night. Windbird could use a good fresh water wash, so we will welcome the rain. We had two days with a drizzle in the Galapagos, but other than that we have not had rain since the Caribbean.

I have started my research reading for the South Pacific and already have learned so much. The Pacific Ocean is twice the size of the Atlantic and it is greater than all of the earth’s land surfaces combined. But on a map, the islands of the Pacific just look like little dots. Most people, myself included, have heard some names like Tahiti, Bora Bora, Fiji, and Tonga, but otherwise are very unaware of the republics, kingdoms, and protectorates in the whole of the South Pacific. If you are reading these logs, you will probably learn more about the South Pacific islands than you ever wanted to know. I am letting go of my attachment to the Galapagos and getting into the journey through the Pacific. And, of course, these logs will reflect that.

As I started reading The Pacific Crossing Guide, one of the first questions addressed was why anyone would cross the Pacific. The text explains that just as there are boats of many different sizes and shapes, there are numerous reasons for crossing the Pacific. Usually people are doing this as part of a circumnavigation or they are just South Pacific explorers who stay in this area for years. We fall in the category of the circumnavigators, although we will not make the final decision to go all the way around until we reach New Zealand. As the Crossing Guide states, “The Pacific is an ocean that needs time-six to eight months for a Pacific crossing from Panama to New Zealand.” We left Panama on the ninth of March and will probably leave Tonga or Fiji for New Zealand around the first of November. That means we will fall in the average of taking eight months for the Pacific passage. Right now, however, we have to concentrate on making the twenty to thirty days it takes to get to the first landfall. So far, so good. (Seems like that has become my mantra!)