3rd Day 03:09:21N 83:07:08W

Superted V
Jean & Matt Findlay
Sun 5 Feb 2012 14:43

Day 3

 

After a glorious sunrise promising a bright day to come, it wasn’t long before the cloud came over.  The sea was glassy calm.  It was good to have the flat seas after yesterday being tossed about but we need the wind.  Tried a couple of times to sail but couldn’t make enough south which we needed to do to get the wind (according to the grib files).  So we kept the engine running.  Had some spectacular displays from what we think were Spinner dolphins – the sea was alive with their activity – jumping high in the air and turning and twisting then tail slapping.  Also saw a small pod of Pilot whales – their black bodies moving gracefully through the water.  The wind finally came in and we got the engine off early afternoon.  With all the flat sea, I got some yoga done and once again we ate well.  Sailed close hauled on port tack. The sea got a bit choppy later and we had around a knot of current against us.  Tacked on to starboard at around 2am for a couple of hours then back on to port. Hopefully we’re now through the ITCZ (inter tropical convergence zone – where the winds from the north east meet the winds from the south east and anything can happen – from doldrums to thunder storms).  The winds are now light but from the south west so we have a 600 mile beat still to go!   Day distance covered:  134 miles 

 

      

                Early morning sunrise over the pacific – just look                           Island of Malpelo at dawn (the only bit of land between Panama

                           at that sea!                                                                            and the Galapagos – and it belongs to Colombia!