Marquesas Passage, Days 3,4,5

A passing squall

Bob's new growth!

I didn't post a blog during the last few days because I didn't want to sound like we were whining, (we were). Since supper last night we have finally found a stretch of southeast trade winds and are having a good sail west. All day Fri and Sat we were traveling under widespread rain cover. The winds rarely got over 6 knots and the direction was variable. The first day of this we motored slowly south into the swell looking for wind about 5 S, but by then it was 6 S on the forecast. Well, we can't motor that much without running out of fuel so just worked on sailing where we could yesterday. We were passing through an extensive low pressure system so the winds clocked all the way around from SW,W,NW,N,E, and S. All were light until the SE came in over 20. We have covered about 560 nm but would have expected 200 more than that. Hopefully things will stay more consistent now.

Laundry is being done today with the buckets of water collected. Wish we could think of a system to collect it more efficiently. We have found where all the leaks are in our canvas cockpit covers and are drying things out. There were several flying fish and a few squid on the deck this am. Our fishing line only managed to catch our hydrogenerator with all the turning. Some boats have seen whales. One boat saw a bird floating on an empty fuel container.

Janet on Chapter 2 gave Rob a buzz cut before leaving. I think it is short but it is only a "6", whereas others went with a 4, 3 or 2. I also found a place for a haircut. Bob made a different choice and is going with no cut and no shaving. We'll get a photo at the end. We have made bets on arrival time in the Marquesas. All are near the beginning of April, just before Easter.