Day 6

We have had a good 24 hours, with a great sail overnight, followed by light wind and seas during the day that saw us motoring most of the way. It looks like alot of motoring is left so we are getting close on fuel.

Quote of the trip, by Isabelle as she was playing the other day down below and we were hit by the largest wave of the trip, sending the boat over 60 degrees. in a calm tone "holy crap" and then continued on playing.

The wildlife has been very interesting with countless pods of dolphins, the most enjoyable of these at night when there bioluminesence lights the water it a trail behind them. We have seen leaping rays, sharks (one looking seriously at our fishing lure), turtles and each night several birds that fly with the boat all night.

The saga of the oil seepage continues. It is clearly not the drain plug but is related to the pan seal to the block. There is a constant tiny bit of oil on the seam. Again nothing that is causing any measurable loss of oil, but still concerning.

Position 0.53N, 87.14W, motoring at 5.5 knots on a course of 234.

The Crew of Nikita

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Day 5

Ok first apologies for repeating Day 3, there really was a Day 4.

A few hours ago this would have been a much different missive, as we fought 20 knot winds and 10 foots seas, heeled at 30 degrees. Now the winds are of course gone and the seas slowly dying out. The kids had been a little on edge the first few days and I was expecting the worst when they got up this morning. But.... they had a great day playing down below, making up new games etc. While Rae and I curled up in the most cozy corners and hung on for dear life.

I am not sure what makes this passage so difficult, but pretty universally everyone runs into the nasty weather, which of course was not forecast by any of the three weather services we use. Well touch wood we are on the other side and looking at a favorable forecast the rest of the way in.

On the bad news side, I noticed a small (very small) weep of oil, seemingly from the drain plug, which has never been touched I pump the oil out of the engine via the dip stick tube. At the moment it is nothing but something to monitor, but I do not have a fix if it gets worse.....

Position 1.51N, 85.27W
Motoring at 5 knots course 238.

The Salt Encrusted Crew of Nikita

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Day 4

It has been a rough 24 hours with a stiff southerly wind and large confused seas. We did get a 10 hour sail out of it, but all hard on the wind so lots of heeling.

Seas are quieter now. We are motoring overnight on a southerly course to get out of the ITCZ, though we did clear the more convective area last night.

Position 2.35N 83.51W, motoring at 205 degrees, speed of 5 knots.

The Crew of Nikita

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Day 3

A mixed day. We did get about 10 hours of sailing, however the rest has been motoring and fighting currents so moving no better than 5 knots.

We are very much in the middle of the ITCZ tonight, so we have thunderstorms all around us and bumpy confused seas. None of this I would describe as pleasant.

We are continuing our course south of the rumb line to try to exit the ITCZ. It looks like it will take us longer than anticipated, having to make southing all the way to 2 degrees north before turning towards the Galapagos. This likely means about 24 more hours of motoring at least.

Other than that how was the play, Mrs Lincoln?

Position
3.41 N
82.19 W
motoring on a course of 205 at 5 knots.

The Crew of Nikita

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Day 2

Well the wind has gone and we are firmly in the ITCZ, otherwise known as the doldrums. The seas are absolutely mirror glass with some residual swell. Overall very comfortable. We are looking at a rather long motor over the next couple of days to exit the ITCZ and pick up the southerly trades. We have altered course to move south quicker.

No fishing today, but we finished the tuna so lines go back in tomorrow. A couple of boat projects (cleaned the curtains), a couple of dolphins and a turtle spotted. Otherwise a quiet day spent calculating fuel requirements.

The Crew of Nikita

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Panama to the Galapagos - Day 1

We set off today with a fair wind and light seas. As forecasted though the wind has gone away leaving us to motor. We are outside our range under power so we are using lower RPM's to conserve and stretch our fuel.

We were uncertain how the fishing would go without Bruce, aka the Fishingmaster, thus imagine our surprise in catching two black fin tuna about 10 pounds each. Much different than losing all your fish and ultimately tackle as well.

We have had dolphins swimming with us nearly all day, especially with the kids up on the bow the dolphins do not seem to want to leave.

Position 7.16 N, 79.54 W motoring at 6 knots course 234M.

The Crew of Nikita

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One Small Step

Well we have left Panama, more accurately Panama City, and are now anchored in Contadora Island, part of the Las Pearlas Islands of Panama. A slow sail of 40 miles brought us 10 miles further away from the Galapagos.... hmmm. All part of the plan I assure you. We need to finish our passage preparations and get a weather window, and the Las Pearlas are a very nice place to do this from.

Our time in Panama was very hectic. While the visit with the grandparents (both Rae and I's parents visited us) was great of Jake and Isabelle, it was hard for Rae and I to relax as either we were getting ready for the canal transit or we were chasing and endless list of projects. There is a common held phrase in the cruising community that when you finish one project on your list you get to add two more. Some of the issues were surreal such as our oven door shattering mid-breakfast preparation. Anyway most of the items got taken care of, and the ones that remain are manageable.

Panama City was very polluted. The black muck that covers our boat is sickening while the water line sports a sludge like substance, some of which flaked off while sailing yesterday but the remainder will require me to get in the water a scrape.

The route to the Galapagos crosses the ITCZ, commonly referred to as the doldrums. As I have monitored the weather on route it has been particularly windless in the last few weeks. We may have some nice dins in the next week to at least get us away. We will probably wait a little to see if that materializes, if not we will set out for a long motor trip.

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