Smoother sailing

Hello from 2 degrees N latitude—we are so close to the equator.

We finally got calming seas yesterday morning and as the day went on it became clear how far our nerves had been shot from five days straight of being beaten up by the big seas. Under suggestion from our dear friend and sailing mentor Peter who has circumnavigated the world with his wife Margie, we switched to three hour watches to help get our sleep banks back up. It has helped a lot in a short time, as have the calmer seas with wind which has made for much smoother sailing. A clear night last night with the Milky Way in full view along with beautiful views of the Southern Cross constellation doesn’t hurt either! We have come so far.

Calmer seas are better for the sea life too — yesterday after a hectic night, we cleaned up over 30 flying fish and squid (the two together now known affectionately as “squish”) from the decks. This morning we only had a nightly tally of 3 squish, rest their soul.

A huge thanks to Peter for his tireless daily support of us along this crossing—thanks doesn’t even begin to cover our gratitude and appreciation for his phone calls, emails, and texts of guidance, optimism and knowledge sharing.

Now in this equatorial region, we will face lighter winds and areas with no winds where we’ll need to motor. We are approaching what is called the ITCZ or intertropical convergence zone and some areas may have storm cells to watch out for. So a new challenge awaits!

We are over two-thirds there mileage wise and are ready to go from being polliwogs, which are sailors who have never crossed the Equator, to shellbacks, sailors who have! I guess I have to put that bottle of bubbly in the fridge—we’re ready to give some to the sea gods and goddesses too.