Distance in last 24 hours: 50 nm
Distance to Hilo, Hawaii: 3465 nm
Position: 11 57.842N
Longitude: 096 00.930W
COG: 263M
SOG: 3.5 kts under sail
Wind: 5 kts N
Seas: glassy calm, barely discernible SE swell
Weather: 30% Cloud Cover
Barometric Pressure: 1009.5 mb, rising
Sea Temperature: 89 F
Shortly after sending yesterday's email we decided to secure the main engine and let the wind do her worst. Samadhi sat, barely moving, for a couple of hours before the wind freshened slightly. By early afternoon we had 8 kts of wind and were progressing steadily along towards our destination at a whopping 5 or 6 kts. By dinner time, the wind had slacked again and clocked around aft, but there was at least enough to continue along on course throughout the night at a knot or two.
Yesterday was mostly a quiet day around Samadhi. Phillip transferred the diesel that was in jerry cans to the tanks to get the weight off the decks and continued troubleshooting our barbecue that's been giving us the cold shoulder while Kelly worked with the boys on their Calvert, shepherded the produce stores, and generally tidied up.
Lunch saw us cooking the last of the yellowfin, so we got out the rods again to see if we could land something fresh. Since we were only moving at 3 to 5 kts, we were able to troll two lures that rarely see the ocean: the stretch sea snake (a present from Abuela Linda) and Nicholas's sea witch (bought at a little tienda in La Cruz de Huanacatle, Mexico). I'm sure you can imagine Nicholas's delight both that we were fishing again and that we were trolling two of his favorite lures.
With the wind's return, we started seeing more boobies around us. Some alit on the bow, but for the most part they continued on their way. Around 0130 (Samadhi Time) a pod of a dozen or so dolphins swam over to check us out. When they came close, the moonlight revealed their sleek bodies gliding through the clear waters. They hung around for a good twenty minutes before heading south.
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