LATITUDE: 06-37.46N; LONGITUDE: 126-53.41W
COURSE: 186T; SPEED: 5.7
DISTANCE TRAVELED: 1553m
DISTANCE TO GO: 1108m - to the Marquesas - over half way there!
24 HOUR RUN: 118m
All's well aboard Moondance, but we have had some excitement for sure - too much!
Yesterday afternoon, we had just pulled in two more Yellow Fin Tuna's (another double catch) and were relaxing when we were blindsided by a squall. We were definitely not prepared! But, we got through it and were just starting to breath again when found more squalls were on our radar - big ones. So, we spent all night staring at the radar and weaving around the squalls. We were hit by some of the wind and rain, but missed the brunt of the storms. Whew - we were exhausted this morning though!
All weather forecasts stated that there was lots of convection (thunderstorm generators) in the area and the recommendation was to start our southerly route to the Equator. We did just that first thing this morning. There were some big squalls we were keeping on eye on, but only got hit by a good rain shower. Now, the skies are bright blue with scattered clouds and we are enjoying a nice leisurely sail - beautiful. We will definitely be keeping an eye out for more squalls, but hope to have avoided the big ones. If the winds hold, we should cross the Equator in 3 days. Better get busy with my party prep!
Our daily chores include participating in 3 different radio "nets". These nets are through our Single-Side Band Radio (SSB) and we state our position, course, wind and waves, etc. and let them know that all are well aboard Moondance. It also gives us the opportunity to find about how our cruising buddies are doing, plus collect weather data. It is really interesting, but I just haven't got the hang of the jargon: how copy, roger roger, whiskey delta echo, blah blah blah. Plus, I have to wait for my turn to talk. That's not easy for me - of course you know that!
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