Day 192, Year 1: Calmer Day–Day 6
Date: Thursday, April 27, 2006
Weather: Clear Skies with Cumulus Clouds on Horizon (Cloudier Morning)
Water Surface Temperature: 79 degrees F
Air Temperature: Nighttime 77 degrees F; Daytime 80 degrees F
Latitude: 05 degrees 23 minutes S
Longitude: 102 degrees 07 minutes W
Location: Passage from Galapagos to the Marquesas, Day 6
Miles to Go: 2203 (~133 miles last 24 hours)
Miles to Date: ~733
Today was a much calmer day than yesterday. No flying squid, no whales, no getting burned while cooking. We are moving along, one quarter of the way to the Marquesas. When the wind stays above 15 knots, we make great time, but there are periods during the night and again during the afternoon when the wind drops to 10 to 12 knots. When that happens, we move much more slowly, but we are still averaging about 140 miles a day. The total number of miles to our destination from the Galapagos was about 3,000, so if we keep up this average the total trip will take us about 22 days. If we lose the wind entirely due to the weather system in French Polynesia, of course the trip will take longer. But we are settling in and enjoying the days.
The weather has been gorgeous. We are well protected from the sun and it actually feels cool at night and sometimes during the day. When the sun goes behind a cloud, I get chilly. At night we wear long pants and jackets-not what I expected south of the equator, but I’m not complaining, just explaining. The first couple of nights we had to zip our jackets and it was so humid that dew covered everything. It rained our third night out and since then the air has dried out and there is no need to zip a jacket at night. During the day, there are never clouds overhead but the horizon all around is decorated with puffy little clouds. The night sky has been phenomenal-so many stars. As we look to the south we see the Milky Way clearer than we have ever seen it before.
I got an e-mail from my friend Linda back in the Concord School District in response to my mention of being hit in the head with a flying squid. She said she didn’t know squid could fly, but she looked it up on the internet and learned that squid, like flying fish, don’t really fly. They literally shoot out of the water and glide using their fins to help them glide across the water. A certain species of squid can actually “glide” at 24 miles an hour. If the squid that hit me in the side of the head was traveling that fast, he probably had a good concussion from hitting my hard head!
For our sailor friends out there, I just want to remind you that you can check on our position daily by going to Yotreps at Pangolin on the web. There is a link on our website in the “Where We Are Now” section. I’m not sure that section is up-to-date on the site, but the link there will get you to Yotreps. Our son Justin that manages our website is leaving for a three week trip to Africa so I know that part of our website will not be updated from now until the end of April. Checking directly with Yotreps is the best way to get our position. All you need is our call sign to enter on the Yotreps site. It is KB1LDP.
