Day 3, Passage to Mainland Ecuador

1200Z 08JUN19, Day 3, Galápagos to La Libertad, Ecuador. Our progress remains steady. Yesterday during the day the winds were up again, and we had 2 reefs in the main for awhile. The course went a bit north of desired again as well. So the slog to windward and not quite along the rhumb line continues.

Current Position: 00 40S 084 44W
24 hour progress: 109nm, 4.5kts avg SOG, motor sailed for about 1.5 hours overnight, approximately 250nm to go on the great circle route. The weather was sunny and pleasant yesterday and we had a beautiful sunrise this morning. We are sailing close hauled, with a reef in the main again, and with winds of about 15kts +/- 5kts and calm seas. We continue to have a 1-2 kts current on our nose. So we feel like we are doing 6.5kts but only seeing 4.5kts progress over ground.

The crew is doing well. The wind seems to calm over the nights and build back up during the day. This means that the seas also build over the course of the day making dinner the most challenging time to do anything in the kitchen. Yesterday brought 2 pods of dolphins, one pod in the early morning and the other in the late afternoon. They seemed to be feeding and did not play directly around the boat. Even so, they were fun to watch for the short while they were near us, and put on some entertaining acrobatic displays. The water has turned decidedly green in color again.

We are looking forward to our arrival which we are thinking will be on Monday. We are hoping that the winds will allow us a more direct course today, as they have been for the early hours of the morning.