Day 8: Crossing from MX to FP

The seas and wind decreased a bit overnight, making my morning watch (5-9am) enjoyable as the sun came up.  Flying fish in all directions, trying to outfly/outswim the boobie birds who circle our boat.  Birds always seem very curious about us, sometimes landing on us (a place to rest?), other times circling around us (perhaps we disturb the water prompting fish to arise? Or perhaps our boat disturbs the air in such a way that it’s fun to play in?).  One new species, the kids informed me, is the Peruvian Booby, a beautiful white bird.  I enjoy the company of these birds, as we near our 1,000 nm mark of our journey. 

The rest of the crew up, we swapped out our smaller night sail (the genoa) for our larger headsail (the Code 0) and continue on our way SW paralleling the line of eclipse totality. 

Seas are still large with ocean swells coming from two directions.  Emil made us massive pancakes.

I realize that I needed to find a way to exercise a bit, my back aches from sitting still so much.  I rolled out my yoga mat in the rolly cockpit and did some stretching.  My step count is only about 100.

The seas and winds have been building throughout the day, towering behind our boat as we go downwind.  I wish photos did it justice.   Two waves stacked together and smashed our port side, covering the galley with ocean water; time to ensure all ports shut.

Today, as we’ve made some room in our fridge, I was able to reassess our produce and move some into refrigeration.  We have a fridge, freezer, and plug-in small fridge. I also loaded up a box that sits on the floor in our bedroom, as well as baskets in the kitchen.  So far we’ve “lost” one red cabbage, one avocado, and one lime.  Our eggs are doing well out of the fridge (we bought them un-refrigerated) and I just have to remember to turn them over every few days to keep them good, as long as the yolk doesn’t touch the shell on the bottom.

School today consisted of identifying cloud types, French, Captain James Cook, and intro to Marquesas read aloud in the cockpit.  Dinner was shrimp fried-rice.

A coconut just floated by…must be heading into the tropics!  80 degrees tonight. 

Heading into the dark with large seas again, not my favorite.  This is definitely pushing us; one feels very vulnerable out here and this ocean is a huge and living force.

Total miles over the last 24 hours:   145.4 nm

Average speed in last 24 hours:    6.1 knots

Total miles of trip so far:   1,020.9 (we hit the 1,000 mile mark!)