This time yesterday we were surrounded by ships and the chaos of the worlds
biggest shipping crossroads. As we left I counted 56 either anchored or
moving into or out of the canal but this morning we are about 150 miles
south and slightly west and since dawn not a single thing has broken the
disc of the horizon on our own little private patch of the ocean. Overnight
we had a wonderful cool breeze blowing a steady force 4 from the NW that
helped us down the Gulf of Panama but today it has totally died, so having
tried to capture the last of it with our big light cruising chute (it is
supposed to be an idiot-proof spinnaker but we keep finding ways to cause
problems with it) we are now motoring across a hot sultry and totally flat
sea. We have 710 miles to go if we head straight to the islands but we will
probably go a little south of the direct route to try and pick up the
current that flows to the west from the coast of South America to help nudge
us on our way. It is going to feel like a lot further if we do not pick up
some more wind.
There was a moment of excitement yesterday when we spotted a huge whale that
seemed about twice the size of any we have seen before. We are wondering if
it was a blue whale which do live in this part of the world and grow up to
100 feet. Even though they only eat plankton we are not planning any
swimming trips.
