Yesterday I woke up to a nice squall. No lightening and lots of rain to wash the salt and ink blotches of dead squid off the boat. Every morning I wake up to a few flying fish and squid who have committed suicide by jumping on our boat (maybe they think its a comet or something...) The rain lasted about half hour and then the skies cleared and the sun came out. The water turned sheet glassy and looked like metallic blue, rolling hills, and there was not a breath of wind all day. You could see the reflection of the clouds in the water.
The clouds were amazing all day. Every kind of cloud formation you can imagine, from giant dark thunderheads to uniform rows of cotton balls to high streaks in the sky. Sorry I don't know the proper names for these clouds... I am pretty sure I learned them in kindergarten and have forgotten. Regardless, every hour or so the clouds changed and kept getting more and more beautiful. We took tons of pictures, and looking back through the pictures I have taken in the past 2 weeks are all of ocean, sky and sunsets. Go figure.
We also took advantage of the calm day- the calmest we have had yet- to do some laundry in our "washer" i.e. a bucket with a motor to swish clothes around. We had to take all the drying underwear down with a quickness when I saw a giant squall on the horizon, but it dissipated before we got to it. In the afternoon I played guitar on the foredeck in the shade of the sails. It is quite pleasant in the shade and breeze, but the sun is ferocious. The cabin (inside the boat) does not get cooler than 80 degrees, which makes sense because it is sitting in 85 degree water. I sleep with a fan on full blast, pointing right at me. Somehow I think it is going to be this hot, and maybe even hotter, for the next 6 months.
As for the doldrums, we seem to have gotten through them today, but you never know. Because we hold nearly 200 gallons of fuel we were able to motor through the windless day, but I can totally identify with sailors going crazy around the equator because there is no wind and it is hot as hell. I'm not too crazy... yet... Right now we have 9 knots of wind out of the south east which leads me to believe (optimistically) that we have reached the Southerly Tradewinds, even though we have not crossed the equator yet. We hope to tomorrow. We do, however, have less than 1,000 miles to go! Its great to see 3 numbers on the "distance to destination" box instead of 4. Yes, the little things in life.
Well, my friends, I hope all of you are enjoying the beautiful things in your lives, tough as it may be some times. I miss you often, but can always make myself smile by conjuring up some silly memory I have of us winning a beer pong game, sharing epic waves, late night jam sessions... I could go on and on but I will spare you any more sap. Much love. :)
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At 4/4/2011 8:06 PM (utc) Rutea's position was 02°24.38'N 129°39.87'W
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