Heading South to Ecuador

Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Mon 11 Feb 2008 18:54
06:18.675N  79:55.734W
 
We left Panama yesterday (2/10) at noon as planned and have had a smooth downwind sail ever since.  Aside from the need to constantly dodge freighters as they head for the canal entrance, our trip has been uneventful so far.
 
The Pacific is treating us nicely and is very calm with waves only as high as three feet.  Its color is not nearly as impressive as that of the Atlantic though.  No deep sapphire blue here, just dull slate blue - kind of like Lake Ontario.  My sister Margy would probably call it shit bringle blue.  We are not sure what a bringle is, but it sounds ugly, doesn't it?  Maybe we'll get the nice blue water back when we head further offshore to the Galapagos Islands after our stop in Ecuador.  We'll see.
 
Many of the rally boats stopped off in the Las Perlas islands off the coast of Panama instead of heading straight for Ecuador as we are doing.  Both Don and I are acting true to form in that we are following the rally route plan exactly.  No side trips to Panamanian islands for us.
 
We are watching the latitude tick down on the GPS and expect to cross the equator some time on Thursday.  We figure the equator crossing will be an appropriate way to celebrate Valentine's Day.  Definitely an unusual way to celebrate Valentine's day anyway.
 
More tomorrow.
Anne