Scrub-a-dub two sailors in a cockpit tub!

Day 26 – May 12, 2013 – 6PM Pacific Time

Current Location: 07 39.96′ S, 136 22.88′ W
Heading 224 T, Speed 6.1 knots
Sail: Full Genoa & double reefed main
Temperature: Indoor 86F, Outdoor 82 F
+/- 2,500 Miles from Puerto Vallarta, 208 Miles to the Marquesas

Scrub-a-dub two sailors in a cockpit tub!

Rain, glorious rain! (our friends and family in Oregon will wonder at that) It’s been a long time since we’ve had rain. This morning the wind had dropped, so we let out the Genoa and shortly after we saw some showers on the horizon – we considered starting the engine to get over to where they were, but decided to wait and see if they’d come to us. And they did!

We had showers in the cockpit and RED got all squeaky clean – it was lovely! Then, after about 30 minutes, the sun came out and it was back to blue skies. But the wind! It picked up, gusting to 25 and RED LOVED it! He was charging along at over 9 knots for quite awhile. Now the wind’s back down and we’ve slowed considerably – the ride is much more comfortable at +/- 6 knots than it is at over 9, trust me.

We’re focused on what we need to do to be ready to anchor in Hiva Oa, Marquesas, French Polynesia on Tuesday. Today we did laundry so that we’d have nice clothes for our meeting with the gendarmes and tomorrow will be spent digging out the stern anchor and rode, and getting the dingy pumped up and on deck, ready to act as the family car.
Our major focus before we left Puerto Vallarta was provisioning for this crossing, and for the next few months, before we get to another inexpensive place to provision. We’ve done well – we still have fresh limes, potatoes, onions, and garlic. The freezer is still about full of meats and cheeses (and gin). We ran low on Diet Coke, but still have some left as we have been rationing. We have 2 bags of patato chips and lots of granola bars, etc. I think we could take RED around the world a couple of times before we ran out of the canned goods we have. Oh well, we won’t need to buy anything but fresh produce for the next few months!

We’re getting close!

Cheers,
Fran & Richard