Haganes – Fanning And Beyond –  20^th October 2011. – 08 20N – 119 09W

 

Best laid plans and all that – after another fuel check prior to leaving Fanning it appeared we would be cutting our fuel reserves a bit fine if we continued to use fuel at the rate we had between  Majuro and Fanning so I made a contingency plan, since adopted, to head to Manzanillo Mexico, 1,500nm closer than Panama.

 

Carol noticed an imperfection in the inside of an young coconut. One of a few dozen given to them by the locals in Fanning.  I saw her then examining the outside and asked her what was up. She said she was looking for the use by date.

 

A young local, thrilled with the rusty bike we gave him off the foredeck (nothing a bit of a scrub and some oil won’t fix) no brakes, but you don’t need them on Fanning, a basket ball and assorted  other treasures found aboard completed the package in return for some chillies and banana leaves for Carol to cook chicken in and burn the bottom of the pot.

Joel with a good sized trevalli caught in the lagoon at Fanning.

 

Left Fanning yesterday 7^th Oct,  with the weather pretty much the same, sea tolerable, a bit of sun boat speed a bit better too. Doing 8kts with 320-330 rpm. Not saying anything yet but hopeful – there’s that word again. 2 hurricanes off Manzanillo which is plan B destination.

 

 

Joel caught some little fish in Fanning and hung them up to dry. They started to smell so bad you couldn’t walk out on the deck with out noticing them. Didn’t stop him eating them though, and he’s still cooking them up two weeks later! The smell coming out of the galley is something to behold.

 

 

2 weeks later – 20^th Oct.  

 

We’re at the moment at our waypoint at 8 30N 118 00W, 1010nm out of Manzanillo. We found the elusive east bound current at about 7N and have been carrying it since doing 9.5kts – 10kts. We would now have enough fuel to get to Panama, but it’s still marginal, and you know what Murphy's like given a window of opportunity. Running out of fuel on an ocean passage doesn't look good on a skippers CV.  So it’s north east to Manzanillo. With the hurricane season still active too, I will be looking both ways before I step off the kerb and head north of 10N at 118W.

 

We’ve been lucky with the weather the last few days, fine and clear and for the most part not too much wind. It’s been a pleasant change not having had weather like it since north of Papua New Guinea (what seems like a year or two ago).

 

We have lost a few fish thanks to cheap Chinese hooks bought in Singapore that keep breaking when a fish get’s on but still we have caught a few as well. Caught one today in fact (Mahi mahi). John and I sat down to a lunch of grilled fillets with a tomato and garlic dressing while the rest had their fish head soup and fought over the eyes!

 

Ol’ chicken legs, with an epoxy mix trying in vain to find more holes in the wheelhouse roof on a rare stunning day.

 

Not content with attempting to repair the leaks in the wheelhouse roof, he tries to change the light bulb in the steaming light on the foremast. Turns out it was a fuse in the wheelhouse.

 

Caught a good sized Mahi Mahi yesterday. After a couple of well timed side steps, I managed to beat Joel to it an filleted it before he had a chance to hack it to pieces with a meat cleaver as they do. I made an escaviche for lunch with lemon juice, coconut cream and thai chilli. Sashimi for a snack in the afternoon and then beer batter fillets for dinner. It was all too exciting for John’s pedestrian tastes and not nearly spicy enough for the Filipinos, but I enjoyed it anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

Yours truly with a fish caught just on dark of unknown type. Looked like a cross between an eel and a barracuda. Didn’t get the chance to eat it and the Filipinos are keeping quiet about how it tasted.

 

 

Carol the cook had a birthday so John decided to bake her a cake. “But John, I am not a child I don’t need a cake and candles”. She still managed to wind up with more icing and cake over her and the galley than anywhere else!

           

I.T.C.Z. = Inter Tropical Convergence Zone = This sort of stuff.

The manufacturer of the  washing machine (seen with the blue strap around it) needs this shot for an ad campaign. It’s had blue water right over the top of it many times. Sadly the 2 freezers just around the corner didn’t make it. Nor did the door of the crew toilet ( right of photo), which was carried away by a big wave while Carol was in ‘residence’.

 

It appears we have a ghost on board. Carroll has been awakened by one standing on the doorway of her cabin quite regularly at 0300hrs. She saw his face for the first time yesterday and said he was tall with a beard. I said that’s John! No no, she said he was thin with a full head of hair and good looking! Enrico says he has been wakened with the feeling that someone has him by the foot and is trying to pull him out of bed (the ghost’s just pulling his leg – but they don’t get that). Joel says he has wakened at 0300 also not able to breath and with the sensation of someone with their hands on his throat. I said little wonder with the food he eats.

 

Our water maker failed yesterday and John is now working on the backup smaller one to get it going but it doesn’t look as though he’s going to be successful in that endeavour either. We have 250gal on board and I have the crew on tight rations until we know we can generate more. A 1 gallon jug each for personal use per day plus drinking water from the galley. No washing (other than from your jug or salt water) and dishes done in salt water. I can’t believe how much water these guys go through, in spite of my constant belly aching about it. As much in a day as we’d use on Splash Tango on whole passage to Fiji!

 

And so it’s on to Manzanillo. ETA 25 Oct early morning. It would be nice to think that we could carry this weather for a while longer, but there’s probably been to much ‘hoping’ on this voyage anyway