Today we crossed the 1000 miles completed line, at midday (give or take a few minutes). We were pleased as the last 24 hours had been ups and downs in the rain squalls. We have been communicating with others crossing the Pacific on the Pan Pacific net at 7am. Lots of sailing boats are sitting in the rain clouds with little wind, so we have been luckier having traveled sufficiently south to miss the worst of it. It is reassuring to hear the voices of others also crossing this huge expanse of ocean! One third down.
And two thirds to go. We have set the GPS to a waypoint at Hiva Oa, our port of entry in the Marquesas Islands. It registered 1999 miles to go just at 6pm as the sundowners were coming up into the cockpit. Timing is everything, they say, and today's could not have been better. Our weather has improved markedly, with sunshine and white billowy clouds, The characteristic SE Trades puff balls have yet to return. The grib file forecast looks good for moderate SE winds for the next 4-5 days at least. At some point tomorrow we shall head more west as we within 60 miles of the same latitude as Hiva Oa. And, more importantly, the paper chart on the chart table only reaches down to 11*s so we have to head west to stay on our paper world (aaahhh......that's why the early navigators thought they would fall of the edge of the world!!).
We are slowly eating into our provisions, though some, like the fresh bananas, are going to go out before we have the chance to do them justice. We are still enjoying baguettes from Santa Cruz supermarket which have kept well in the fridge. This evening we enjoyed a simple fried chicken dish with potato and salad - Deb needed her salad. Tomorrow, onto beef, I think, with a pau pau chutney freshly made, provided the weather will allow a stable enough platform to cook chutney!
I leave you with today's mileage - another cracking 174 nm.
174NM this is amazing...we put a mark on our chart with Laros. Which frequency are u using ay 22UTC? Big hugs...we love you
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