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.