Going Backwards

Day Three on the trek across the Pacific...and we are making very little forward momentum. The current is all wrong for us and the wind is non-existent so we are simply taken by the current eastward. Of course our course is southwest! No wind is predicted for the next several days and if we chose to motor and use some of our limited fuel supply – we would have to go a long way to find wind. The motoring we did do over the last three days has not gained us anything after we shut off the engine. So our theme is "it is what it is" and we'll just drift along forward, backwards or sideways.

The water is a glass slick – at night you can see the stars – which are very bright – reflected on the surface. In the daytime, you can see through the clear water to a good depth. In fact, this morning, it was so flat and clear with absolutely no wind chop on the surface, we actually saw two huge mahi swim by the boat. We dropped a lure in and they came back to check it out – but we couldn't interest them in the delicacy!

Yesterday afternoon, we saw a pod of whales – pilot whales we think. They were small as far as whales go, but quite large so close to the boat. They were moving quite quickly, but very close to the surface and came along the port side and then swam off behind the boat. It was great to see. We also spot lots of sea lions – they do this weird thing of lifting one of their flippers out of the water – either like a synchronized swimmer's hand held aloft or the sea lions just waving. When there are lots of them it does look like a synchronized swim team with all their flippers out at once.

We saw a few sea turtles and a large shark. We are now outside the 40 mile Galapagos limit so we can fish – that is if we had any speed. Michael worked on our little rod and reel and perhaps we'll kill some time with casting.

So after three days – our current position is: 01.48.65 S by 090.48.75 W. That's as of Tuesday, March 27 at 0900. As our friend Markus on Namani said on the radio last night – at least you aren't drifting backwards FAST, We like positive people.

It is what it is.