Day 1 of Passage from MX to FP

7:30am, anchor up and underway.  Happy Easter morning!  Coffee (small) and steel cut oats for breakfast.  Scopolamine patches put on last night to prevent seasickness, dry mouth already starting ,but they work great for our family.  Friends on Amizade up and waving to us as we got underway.  Starting out in Bandaras Bay, calm and motoring, minimal sea swell.  I prepped dinner tonight before it got too rolly.  Emil is learning all our systems.  First fishing line in the water!

We have a system called Iridium GO which we are using for communication underway for safety purposes.  We also plan to turn on our Starlink twice daily to check weather and update our Predict Wind tracker, which has been working intermittently.

9:30am and first fish on, a new species for us – a small bonito that went back to the ocean.  And another one.  Calder is the fishiest kid around.  Motoring along around 5.5 knots, waiting for some wind to fill in.  We calculated out our fuel use, as we have enough for a day of motoring now, getting through the ICTZ later, and motoring into the anchorage at Hiva Oa.  Beyond that, when there is any wind, we need to sail.

Our watch schedule is shaping up; we’ve outlined it for the next 24 hours (one primary person on watch, one back-up person), as well as meal times, and weather check times.  It is important for us all to get rest, which will mean daytime naps for some.  The kids are also working into the watch schedule, an important milestone that they are ready for.

Winds from north filling in at noon; time to sail!  Out goes the main and Code Zero, moving at 7.5-10 knots in only 12-15 knots wind.  We’re flying along (for us)!

Bean-cheese quesadillas and fresh fruit for lunch.  Brown footed booby bird overhead, a pod of dolphins playing with us, two turtles swimming by.  Goldfish crackers and saltines taste so yummy out on the ocean.

Out of site of land around 2pm.  Then Calder caught a significant sized shark…that was interesting! 

Dinner of chicken and cooked peppers over rice with avocado and cilantro before sunset and the start of night passages.  Boat is quite loud with all the water slap on the bottom (our bridge deck), challenging to sleep.  Had interesting times dodging between container ships in the shipping channel, Atari Frogger style. 

We slowed down quite a bit, as winds decreased.  Overall, a good first day.

Total miles over last 24 hours:  147.3 nm

Average speed over last 24 hours:  6.0