Day 4, Passage to Easter Island

1245Z 31AUG19, Day 4, Ecuador to Easter Island. We continue to make steady progress. Yesterday was a complete mixed bag of conditions. There was sun, there was drizzle, there was close hauled, there was beam reaches, there was some wind, there was no wind and all cycled through in about 30-45 minute sets! Overnight the wind has become more consistent and gained strength.

Current Position: 05 17S 088 03W
24 hour progress: 128nm, 5.3kts avg SOG, with about an hour of motoring, approximately 1790nm to go on the great circle route. We have been able to fall off to a close reach and are making a good course and speed. Winds are around 15-20kts and we have a reef in the main. The seas are calm but are expected to start building. We started moving well about 6 hours ago and saved our slow daily average by pulling down 7kts average SOG for the last 6 hours.

The crew is well and we are all well rested. Our refrigerator is still working and the meat has stayed well frozen so the fishing line was out again. We had 2 strikes that didn't catch and then we snared another mahi but he got away as we were setting him on deck. Jon was very, very sad and had trouble letting go of the fish that got away. Apparently he really wanted fish tacos! Not to worry too much though, we thawed some ground beef and had a delicious pasta with red sauce, meat and cheese meal. Everyone was well fed.

Perhaps the automatic sensor pump for the head sink is back in order. The sink stopped draining manually yesterday, so we plunged it, waited a little while pondering the next step, and then it all seems to have (somewhat magically) started working again. So perhaps we have cleared the issue. Time will tell, and in all likelihood that headache will be back at some point, but for now it seems ok so we'll simply enjoy it.

Day 3, Passage to Easter Island

1245Z 30AUG19, Day 3, Ecuador to Easter Island. We continue to make steady progress. We were able to sail throughout the day yesterday. Overnight the wind died and eventually we turned on the engine for a couple of hours which gave us a chance to recharge our rather low batteries. Yesterday saw us making more westward progress with out much southern progress, however overnight the wind seems to have shifted a bit in the right direction. We shall see what the day brings.

Current Position: 03 53S 086 30W
24 hour progress: 116nm, 4.8kts avg SOG, with about 2.5 hours of motoring, approximately 1920nm to go on the great circle route. Yesterday was rather gray but the clouds thinned out in the early morning hours providing a window to the starry sky and a nice sunrise. We continue to sail close hauled and are pretty close to the desired rhumb line course. A little more wind and/or some sun would easily keep our batteries well charged without need for the engine assist. Winds are around 10kts.

The crew is well and everyone seems to have their sea legs again, even poor drooling Poseidon. Around 10am local yesterday, just as Megan was about to lie down we caught a large Mahi. Unfortunately he got away and we were all a bit disappointed as we had all started drooling before we got him on the boat. We put the line back in, let Megan get 20 minutes of sleep, and caught another Mahi. This one was smaller but we landed him fairly easily, had a sushi lunch and had the rest with broccoli and quinoa for dinner. This was our first (non-restaurant) Mahi since the Atlantic crossing. Pacific Mahi are just as tasty as their Atlantic brethren in case you were wondering. The boys are really doing well with night watches and both parents got some extra sleep last night!

The refrigerator seems to be back to working now that Jon has thoroughly cleaned and rebuilt the pump, yet again. The automatic sensor pump for the head sink has acted up again and is set back to manual (push button) operation - this is another minor headache we've become used to, probably caused by the slime (and maybe the 1" crab) rinsed out of the refrigerator filters earlier in the day. So begins the growth of the to do list for our next stop.

Day 2, Passage to Easter Island

1245Z 29AUG19, Day 2, Ecuador to Easter Island. We continue to make progress in a mixed bag of winds. The course has been better and then worse as well. Basically all is as expected. The weather forecasts have all shown that these first few days would be lighter winds so we are taking what we get and adjusting accordingly. We expect we may have to motor some today.

Current Position: 03 09S 084 47W
24 hour progress: 131nm, 5.5kts avg SOG, approximately 2020nm to go on the great circle route. Yesterday the weather was beautiful and sunny for a short while in the morning and then it went back to being gray. We continue to sail close hauled and about 30-40 degrees north of the desired rhumb line course. Winds are between 10-20kts.

The crew is well and there is a lot of extra sleeping. There are still some tender stomachs but the extra sleep is helping as are the periods of light winds and calm seas. The boys have been motivated to stand watches on their own and have done some writing. There also has been some books on tape, music listening and show watching as we work into the passage making groove.

The refrigerator is acting up, yet again. It's drained a lot of battery power and it has not been pumping the cooling sea water through it. The frozen meat is acting like a big ice block so things are still plenty cold (we have a thermometer inside and the meat is still frozen). Jon will take apart the pump, again, today to see if he can get it clean and pumping again. Overall the refrigerator has been acting better - after we installed two additional filters. It had been working great in the marina. As we prepped to get underway we cleaned out the filters after the hull was cleaned. Cleaning the hull usually knocks extra crap into the filters and also there was a lot of sludge that collects in the filters sitting in that marina. So we are pretty sure it hasn't worked properly for the last few days. Hopefully we can get it back to working well today. We definitely have a love / hate relationship with that thing! As these things go, just when all seemed to have been working well and you have a load of food that needs to stay fresh, that's when you need to clean it and it decides to act up.

Day 1, Passage to Easter Island

1245Z 28AUG19, Day 1, Ecuador to Easter Island. We departed from La Libertad just before 0800 local time on 27AUG19. We had checked out in the late afternoon Monday, fueled up, moved to the mooring ball, and were settled in around 1800 local. We had a relaxing evening and remarked how there was less swell on the mooring than pier side in the marina.

We motor sailed away from Ecuador with 10-15 knots of wind on the nose. We saw Humpback Whales jumping and tail slapping within the first hour! None were especially close but we all got good views of a set of 2. Around 3 hours after departure, we secured the engine and started sailing on a close reach. The current seems to be 1-2 knots and it is off of our port quarter/port beam so it is helping our speed a little but also pushing our course more northerly. Due to the wind direction we started off heading west and a little north. This is as expected and we hope to be able to gradually continue to turn more SW over the coming days. We have already been able to bend some, remaining on the same point of sail.

Current Position: 02 21S 082 47W
24 hour progress: 121nm, 5.0kts avg SOG with 3hrs motor sailing, approximately 2140nm to go on the great circle route. The weather was gray and overcast all day. The night was very dark, but the bioluminescence was amazing. It is quite chilly and we are all bundled up. We are currently close hauled, sailing about 25 degrees north of our desired course, with one reef in the main and around 20kts +/- of true wind.

The crew is well and we're settling into our routines. It feels good to be out sailing again!There are some tender stomachs because we stayed stationary for so long. But the seas and winds are pretty calm so it has been a gentle reentry. Everyone should find their sea-legs soon enough.

We put the fishing line in and caught a skip jack tuna right after Megan had started thawing shrimp for dinner. We figured we would marinate him in the refrigerator but lost him when we were bleeding him. Oh well, skip jack isn't our favorite. If you have recommendations or a good marinade feel free to comment with it, email me or message it to me!

In other wildlife news, we saw a group of albatrosses on the water and some of them took off flying from that group. They are so majestic and a bit clumsy taking off! So we have now officially finished our Atlantic Crossing Bingo - missing until now was whale sighting, whale fluke and albatross! All checked off in half a day - just a little late, a different ocean and a different passage.