As predicted, the wind has gone from favorable to nonexistent! We have been motoring since just before noon on Friday and will not be surprised if we end up motoring most, if not all, of the way to San Cristobal. We have an "economy cruise" speed of 6kts at 1,700 rpm at which speed we use less than 1 gallon of fuel per hour. With our 125 gallons of fuel on board we have ample capacity to motor the entire way.
Yesterday we all kept fairly focused on being productive: the girls got quite a lot of schoolwork done; Corinne, with her newly-found sea legs has been preparing more elaborate meals as she had intended all along; Joel stood watch for most of the daylight hours; and Lew completed the installation of our second satellite communications system. Being Saturday today, the girls were very quick to point out that there is no school today!
We have been playing a number of word and memory games, Joel teaching us English games and we teaching him American games. We are planning a movie night tonight after dinner, we have more than enough movies and microwave popcorn on board to last for a couple of weeks. Because of the light air we are experiencing very hot and humid conditions, grateful for the large cockpit bimini that we have.
Yesterday was a bust as far as fishing goes, we tried another of the new lures but not even a nibble. We were visited by vast numbers of dolphins throughout the day, some of which were jumping clear out of the water to entertain us! During the very dark conditions after sunset but before moonrise we have been marvelling at the bioluminescent trails underwater from the movement of our boat disturbing the light-emitting micro organisms and jelly fish in the sea water. With the engine running last night we also could observe the helix-shaped flow of water from the propellor which left an illuminated trail behind us. We are hoping to see a dolphin visit at night to see their trail of light in the water.
We are out of view of nearly all of the other Rally boats except for WORKING ON A DREAM. We have been abeam of her for most of the past 12 hours as we seems to be traveling at the same speed. There has been no shipping traffic whatsoever now that we have left the shipping lanes to-and-from the Canal.
BRIZO Crew