Caribbean Ho!
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sat 12 Jan 2013 11:09
| 15:54.997S 05:43.099W January 12, 2013 It's time. The freezer is working, the water tank is nearly full, the generator is happy, and the Caribbean beckons. It's 3,750 miles from here to there - a full 850 miles longer than the longest passage we've done before (17 days from Galapagos to the Marquesas in the Pacific). We estimate it will take us 23 days, longer if the wind is lighter than anticipated. The course is straight forward - we leave here and head straight there. Initially, we'll have 10-20 knots of southeast wind, but as we approach the equator, the wind will tend east and decrease. Once beyond the equator, we'll pick up the northeast trades, which may blow a bit more, but still in the 20 knot range. The doldrums in this part of the world are very narrow, and nothing like the nasty ITCZ patch we went through twice (or was it three times?) in the Indian Ocean. We'll have more consistent wind and less squally thunderstorms. All in all, it should be very pleasant, albeit long, so we'll be looking for email entertainment along the way. Just like the Saints excitement when the RMS St. Helena arrives with passengers and goods every two weeks, we get excited when we download email via the satellite phone, and receive lots of messages. It's the main highlight of our day. When replying to one of our emails, please remember to delete all of the original text. The same is true for attachments and forwarded emails - please delete the attachments and original text. Satellite phone time is precious (shorter emails download faster) and we've got a long way to go! The blog will be updated daily starting tomorrow (Sunday, 1/13). It's always possible we might have trouble with satellite phone communication along the way, so if we miss a few daily updates, or even a whole block of them, don't worry - we'll send an update as soon as we regain communication. The satellite phone has been extremely reliable all these years, but if we've learned nothing else while living on a boat, we've learned that nothing is infallible. Cheers! Anne and Don
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