On Sunday, we realized we can see AIS targets 50 miles out on the radar screen, when normally they only appear 8-12 miles out. VHF range around here is absolutely insane. The chatter on the radio is incessant, both legit and screwing around. The monkey boy was still coming in loud and clear, and he was getting progressively harder to take. While he is by far the worst, he was not the only one screwing around on the radio. Over the course of the entire day, we got 6 more distress calls, all from weird MMSI numbers such as 111111111 and with no coordinates. All presumed fake. It is really upsetting that these guys are abusing the radio waves. The wind died for a few hours and came back as only very light head winds. The seas also flattened out, which we are ecstatic about. It was smooth and wonderful. We hoped it would last.
Yesterday we had four more fake GMDSS emergency calls, and, in general, the radio chatter continued to drive us crazy. The winds have gotten even lighter and the seas smoother. It has been a fantastic ride today. There is no wind chop at all, just glassy seas with a small swell. It has gotten significantly cooler and drier as we head north. The weather is a nice change of pace, and certainly makes it more comfortable inside the boat.
Today, in the early hours of the morning, we heard two radio conversations with a coalition warship in the Persian Gulf, a good 500+ miles away. Still a lot of radio chatter and two more fake distress calls. The wind shifted to our port (left) side and picked up a little, and the seas followed suit. It has definitely gotten rockier, but is still a nice ride overall. Around 2100, we hit a ridiculous current and had to pick the RPM’s up to 1900 to maintain a speed of 5.7 knots. Prior, we had been doing just over 6 knots at 1550 RPM.
Today we also hit a new record for longest continuous passage with just the two of us. Surprisingly, we are not as tired as we were on the last couple long passages we did alone. Our bodies must have adjusted to the erratic sleep schedule.
And on to blog questions:
Q: Do you see a lot of trash at sea and washing up on shore?
A: When we first got to the Tuomotus, we commented a lot about the obscene amount of trash along the shore. We thought the locals were making the trash. But come to find out, it was all trash that just washed up and wasn’t local trash at all. In Suwarrow, a basically uninhabited island 100 miles away from any other land, they constantly have trash washing up on shore, including huge 50 gallon drums. The caretaker family spends a lot of their time doing trash collection. In Asia, we have seen a lot, and we do mean a shocking amount, of trash floating in the water.
Q: How is your SCUBA equipment performing? (tagging this post SCUBA & Snorkeling due to this question)
A: We have a dive compressor, steel tanks, an air hose that attaches to the tank and regulator for cleaning the bottom, and a single weight belt for use with the hose, and assorted gauges. All of these have worked great for us so far. So have our gloves made by Mares, our snorkels made by File Fish, and our dive computer made by Aeris.
On to complaints: We have a male and female Mares Icon buoyancy compensators with integrated weights. Eric likes his, Christi despises hers. She thinks the BC is poorly designed in every way, especially fit. Our masks are also Mares, and they work great for diving but leak for snorkeling. Our booties are also Mares, and the seams on Christi’s are coming apart and there is a good size tear along the seam.
We have Aeris main regulators and secondary regulators. The main regulator model has been recalled and needs to be rebuilt because they sometimes free-flow. Unfortunately, at this point there is nothing we can do about getting them replaced/repaired.
We both had Manta fins, which work great but break easy where they attach to the strap. Christi broke hers and is now using Tusa fins, which are good, too.
Our wetsuits are made by ScubaPro. Eric has managed to tear holes in both his legs. The wetsuits have gotten the least use of all the gear so far because for the first part of our trip we were using different wet suits.
We bought a retractable clip for the depth gauge called “The Gripper”. It broke as soon as we bought it. We exchanged it for another, which also immediately broke. Unfortunately, the second one broke after we already left on our trip. [82-84]