Position Update 15th January 10 00.86N 076 58.35W

Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Fri 15 Jan 2010 19:10
Just about to cross the 10 degree parallel (latitude)  - the furthest south we have failed so far. Wind eased up this morning to 15 to 20kts, but the seas are still up, although not so aggressive looking. The wind yesterday was between 25 and 35kts all day and most of the night. Our storm jib hanked on to the cutter stay was all we had up and that gave us 5 to 6 kts - plenty fast enough with the big seas. it was quite remarkable how quiet and comfy it was down below after the noise outside. We continue to attract shipping - must be a huge magnet in the bilge! As the CPA has frequently been too close for comfort.we have called a good number to let them know our position. They've all been willing to change course, although their English is generally poor and it takes a while to get them to understand what we are asking. We did get a weather forecast from one. Cartagena on the Colombian coast appears to be quite a commercial city with docks as a lot of ships were bound for there or leaving there. Quite a number of ships were heading for the Panama canal too, but we are now south of that route so we hope we won't see too many from now on.
 
As I write this, we have 84 miles to go, having covered around 600 miles so far. With only 84 miles to go, we will slow down as we couldn't cover that distance before dusk and we do want to arrive in the light.