Tag Archives: passage

60 Hours into the passage to the Marshall Islands

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Nothing to report….

Kidding, good day, just no wind. Turned into a project day.. Finished cleaning the teak, being careful not to fall off the boat. Christine tackled the stainless. And a few naps of course. The full stalk of bananas are nicely turning ripe. 100 or so bananas.. luckily (or our t-shirt method) is letting them turn ripe in seconds instead of all at once. And the folklore about not having bananas on boats, its bad luck for fishing.. I present you a marlin and skipjack with bananas on board.

Super hot today, barely any wind, I think it was 2 knots at most. Must be spoiled by spending too much time down in New Zealand.

Middle of the dreaded SPCZ thunderstorm alley..

Checked the water temperature, its nearly 31C (87F) can almost spend all day in the bath water without even getting chilled.

First time flying the drone off the boat while moving. Much more difficult than it sounded in my head. Normally, near land there are reference points to know which direction you are heading. Out here it’s everything is just blue. The up and down of the swell made the retrieval a challenge. Need a better plan before trying it again.

Finally broke the 1000nm to go, so that feels good. Checking the forecast and hoping for a breeze in our future. Sadly it seems the the noise free travel is still a few days away so the sound of the engine continues. How many times per day can I attempt to calculate how much engine time we can use before we run out of diesel? Is it 8 or 9 days? Are we using 3 liters per hour or 2.5? How full were the tanks? Do I trust those gauges? I’ll probably go through those calculations several more times daily till we arrive or the breeze starts and we can turn off the noisy sail.

All well on board, Fish were not interested in our slow lures today. Chicken Fajitas for dinner,.

36 Hours into the passage to the Marshall Islands

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Out there just a “Motor boating” … It’s a sure a pleasant passage so far with the exception of the drone of the engine, but without it we would be bobbing around like the last beer in the cooler on a long hot day just waiting for someone to pick you.

The wind has been as expected light and the water glass smooth. The main sail is still up in hopes of the wind returning.

Ghosting along

First day fishing was pretty good, tho it was catch and release day. One healthy skippy jack tuna, not a favorite, was the first to get interested in one of our offerings. Then just as dinner time was approaching the other line took off, its our small reel with a small lure that I have been dreaming of Mahi Mahi. But alas, the reel was almost spooled before slowing. Lots of spectacular splashing way back from the boat. Lo and behold a blue marlin had picked on the pink Mahi 2000 lure. Took a bit, but was able to bring him in and let him swim off to contemplate chasing small pink lures in his future.

Second day was more fishing than catching. The pink Mahi 2000 saw some activity. With the slow boat speed and glassy water I could see the fish bite and release half a dozen or more times but always just shy of the hook.

Slow going, but still going ..

Hopeful that the wind will return, the forecast did change, the ‘blue hole’ that is ahead of us is getting smaller. For the first time in a while there is no real pressure to “get there” other than mental health before going stir crazy.

Cleaned the teak between naps. Saved some for tomorrow, need to save something for tomorrow or polishing the stainless will become the task to keep the stir crazy from setting in.

Christine’s favorite, Pork Chops for dinner. Just like the executivo from Costa Rica, complete with fried plantains. Yes it’s that calm that stove top frying is a possible.

Still over 1000 miles to go. All good on board, nothing to see just many many shades of blue.

First 24 Hours to Marshalls

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A perfect morning for a sail. A little gray, not too much sun to get sun burnt. Nice gentle breeze, no drama when the sails are up. Still behind the reef so very little waves. Pretty sweet.

Sails up, and off to the races we go. First day, going conservative start with one reef in the main sail, just incase the forecast is a little off. Works perfectly, nice easy sail. As “Lonely Island’s” song goes “Busting 8 knots in my flippy floppies”. Nice start.

Still concerned about the SPCZ thunderstorms that would be ahead, but just as Moses did the red sea, the SPCZ split and left us alone. Warnings to the left of us, and some to the right, but the center was clear. Yippie.

However, the splitting left us with very little wind to sail with so we changed the stereo station from Pop to Country we landed on “Little Big Towns” “Pontoon” with the Chorus .. Motor Boating. For the next few days at least that “Motor boating” song will be stuck in your head and ours as we endure the drone of an engine to make reasonable progress.

The blue zone, comes with perks too. No electrical worries, batteries will be fully charged. Water tanks full, no reason not to run the water maker. Warm water, all the warm water you use.

Glassy conditions, sail ready should the wind show up

The blue zone was in the forecast, it just came a little sooner than hoping and the blue zone has gotten much larger ahead of us. We will not be setting any 24 distance records with just one motor running, we only dropped off a mere 130 nm toward Majuro, Marshall Islands in the first 24 hours.

So all good on the big watery road, a nice chicken peanut curry for dinner. Too many miles left to count…. 😎