The last ocean crossing we completed was the Cape Verde to Barbados, and it took 14 days, so we would have arrived today. For the Pacific we are still debating if we are half way there or not! If we’re lucky the answer is yes, continued good wind and conditions should see us arriving in French Polynesia in about 14 to 16 days time so almost half way. Though of course, French Polynesia is barely half way across the Pacific!
Last night we had a few strange encounters; from the moment the sunset we stated to see a strange glow over the horizon. The glow was bright white and illuminated the clouds in the sky in the direction we were headed. Nothing showed on AIS and so we were confused but kept out a cautious eye on the horizon as we sailed west. Shorty after midnight lights started to appear and it became clear we were looking at a huge commercial fishing ship. This thing was vast, finally it showed up on AIS (one of our system to seeing other ships) and it was 600ft long and not alone. By the end of the night we counted seven of them, festooned with floodlights, almost stationary in the water and hauling in huge fishing nets. Judging from their names it was clear they were a large commercial fishing fleet out of China. By the time I came on watch at 6am they were safely behind us and the wind was increasing.
In a word, today was FAST. Fairly much all day from the moment the sun came up we were zooming along, never once dropping our speed below 6.5kns and most of the day was between 7..5 and 8 knots which is blisteringly fast for little old Itchy Foot.
Before lunch Jon caught and landed a Yellow Fin Tuna. It was one of the most beautiful fishes we’ve seen, almost too pretty to kill it. The fishing tips from family, friends and other sailors were put to good use and they seemed to have helped. With fish for lunch, dinner and a couple of lbs of Tuna in the freezer we took in the lines and Jon took the rest of the day off from fishing – it was too fast anyway!
Another quiet day on Itchy Foot. Jon baked bread and cake after lunch before settling on the sofa to watch the latest star wars with Teo. Mia continued with her bunting project and Tina seemed to be relaxing with music, journaling and keeping watch much of the day. We put the clocks back an hour at noon today, so we are GMT -6 on Itchy Foot – the same time as San Jose in Costa Rica. We don’t really need to do this, but it helps keep the watches aligned with the day and night periods – so night watches start when it gets dark for example.
Oh and on a positive note, the diesel spill on the deck seems much better than feared and from initial inspection the staining seem to be minimal. It doesn’t sound like we do much on Itchy Foot, but your’d be amazed how the days fill with little jobs and tasks.
