Day 5 0800 UTC location: 23°01.90’N by 023°07.30’Wand 531 nm from Las Palmas. Yesterday our average speed was 5.9 knots at 1600 RPM.
Conditions:
The seas continued to pick up all night and by morning were back to being on the verge of “uncomfortable”. The forecast said that seas the would calm down in evening, a hope we clung to all day. But instead of getting better, it only got worse. By evening, we had sharp swells at 7 8 feet from two directions — behind us and from the port side. It doesn’t feel good when the swells collide. The wind was 10 20 knots apparent from the port aft, and wind waves were 2 3 feet. It officially hit the “uncomfortable” mark, and we were rocking and rolling. It is difficult to walk around and you have to hold on to the boat at all times. The boat yaws from the waves, and you can hear the auto pilot pump whir a bit as it keeps us on course. We had one especially big roll where we all had to hold on tightly. Was cloudy all day. Basically, it was like an average day in the South Pacific.
Big News:
We passed a large floating neon sign and a yellow line painted on the sea saying “Welcome to the Tropics”. OK, maybe there was no sign, but we really did cross the Tropic of Cancer line and are now officially in the tropics. Also, we crossed the 23 degree North x 23 degree West mark, which is an interesting numerical milestone.
The most interesting thing of all happened in the evening, not too long after the sky had gone fully black. The 1/3 full moon could be seen, though it didn’t give off a lot of light.
Eric spotted a boat on radar coming towards us. It had no lights and no AIS. Eric tracked it with the radar auto ranging and speed feature. It was doing 23 -24 knots, against wind and waves. It passed us three miles out and disappeared into the night. We couldn’t figure out where it had come from, being as there was no land for thousands of miles in the direction it had come from. We figure it is probably a military ship doing an exercise, but we found the idea that it could be a drug running cigarette boat to be a much more entertaining theory.
Minor things that help the day pass by a little less slowly:
Today on the radio net, the sailors mentioned that the butter hadn’t melted yet, which baffled Eric and Christi. Colin explained that the traditional sailing trade winds route is go south until the butter melts, then turn right. Apparently, this formula really works for getting the best of the trade winds. Oh, and we got another joke: Q: Where does a sick boat go? A: The dock.
We saw a school of flying fish all flying in unison by 50 yards at a leap. It was pretty amazing to watch. Eric put odor killer in the black water tank and bilge cleaner in the bilge to try to combat the smell. We didn’t see a single ship yesterday or today. And, we are already starting to get restless. Sigh. Only day 5 and already restless.
Day 6 – 0800 UTC location: 21°57.70’N by 025°15.70’W and 668 nm from Las Palmas. Yesterday, our average speed was 5.7 knots at 1600 RPM.
Conditions:
Around 0800, the seas started to improve. By 1000, the waves were definitely better than they were a few hours before, but it still was not a fun ride. By 1400, the seas are about half the height they were at the same time yesterday. Yay. It was definitely getting noticeably better and we were excited it would keep improving. But, no such luck. The seas picked up again in evening. Sigh. And, of course, it was gray and cloudy all day. Wind went from 15 knots apparent, down to 10 at the calm part of the day, then back to 15.
News:
We had an eventful day. In the morning, we saw dolphins. We went outside and watched them for a while, but still too cold to stand outside for very long. Later we saw a fleet of flying fish bouncing around. In the afternoon, we saw more dolphins and more flying fish. After dark, the moon provided pretty good visibility when it poked out between the clouds.
We rolled up 24,000 miles. We are still plagued by that sulfur smell that comes and goes. Eric was a little uncomfortable with the fuel burn ratio, so we have reduced RPM to 1550 from 1600 to ensure plenty of reserves. This means it will probably take us an extra day to get there, though maybe we’ll get lucky and pick up speed somewhere along the way.
We tried the local cheese from the Canary Islands that they are famous for. It is a combo of cow and goat milk and uses some kind of local flower as an added flavoring. We tried the “fresh” variety, but you can get aged, as well. The texture is kind of thick and crumbly, not nearly as crumbly as feta, but in the same kind of genre. It tastes a lot like haloumi, the Greek cheese that saganaki (the fried cheese dish on most Greek menus that Christi absolutely loves) is usually made from.
And a few blog questions:
Q: Looking at Google Earth of the Odeon in Kos, Greece, if one sits in the center seats and faces the stage, they would be facing due north. Did the Romans build it this way to take advantage of the east/west setting sun? Or the natural air flow? Or some religious beliefs?
A: We tried to look into your theories about purpose behind the design of the architecture and could find no information about it at all. Those are good questions and we would be curious to know the answers.
Q: How did you manage to pull this trip off?
Q: Wow, you are sure lucky you could do this trip!
A: Please see our newly updated FAQ’s #46 and 47. Also, the last part of #26 is pertinent, as well.
Q: Are you happy with your choice of a hard dinghy?
A: Overall, yes. There are a lot of different kinds of dinghies in production because there are a lot of different kind of conditions out there. We have certainly experienced a wide range of environments in our travels. There are times when we are glad we have the kind of dinghy we do because it is ideal for where we happen to be. There are other times we we are somewhere where ours is really lacking for those kinds of conditions and we wish we had another kind of dinghy. On the whole, we feel it was a good choice to have a dinghy that rows well, is light weight, and fuel efficient.