Wondertime Sails to the South Pacific – Day 15

According to the skies and our weather charts, we’re officially south of the ITCZ. But apparently the weather is playing an April Fools’ joke on us: over the next few days it is supposed to be moving south, to around 6 degrees S. What that means is if it doesn’t move again by the time we get down there then we’ll have to go through that dreadful zone TWICE. Good grief.

Still, that’s a long way from where we are, especially at our current pace (and the ITCZ is a very shifty thing and could likely move north again by the time we get that far south). We motored for a few hours yesterday afternoon, then were able to sail again until around the time for our radio check-ins. As night fell the wind did also and we found ourselves bobbing around in a windless sea. We just sat there for a while, enjoying the peace and the stillness. The sea around us was lit up by the glowing half moon at the top of the sky and the western horizon still had the slight orangey glow of sunset. It was lovely, and tempting to just put on the anchor light and call it a night. We haven’t seen another ship since our first nights off of Mexico.

We didn’t though as our desire to bring this trip to a close sometime in the next two weeks is just too overwhelming, if you can imagine. The engine was fired up and we motored through the glassy, still night.

At sunrise, happily, a light NE wind came up, only about five knots, but with our spinnaker and mizzen up we’ve been able to keep sailing at about 2.5 knots all day. The next few days are scheduled to bring more light winds, then pick up on Wednesday to a rip-roaring 10 knots. In the meantime though, it’s not so bad strolling through the doldrums. We’ve got our fans humming, buckets of clean and pure turquoise salt water to throw over ourselves, our cockpit shade cooling our outdoor room and the most amazing view on the planet.

Total miles at noon: 1625
Miles since yesterday: 90
Temperature inside the boat: 90F
Dorado fish caught and devoured!: 1