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140 hours into the passage to Marshall Islands

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Dangerously close to breaking the 500 miles left barrier. More importantly the first 24 hours of actual sailing. It’s now a thing, complete these last few hours without burning more dinosaur juice.

Wind has been light and shifty all day. Maximum of 10kt, with 30 degree shifts every 10-15 minutes. I’d say fluky winds. One minute you are going off course left, a few minutes later off on the right. Checking your path, you would definitely be pulled over and given a breath test. “No I have not been drinking, officer. I’m just following the wind, I swear. He has been like this all day, honest. You should really see what he is on“

Moon rise, light winds, making it work

We are counting our blessings on making it through the SPCZ thunderstorm alley with nearly no chaos, the one squall that we did encounter, was with sails down so no issue other than a fresh water rinse of the boat.

Next up is the ITCZ. Looks like it’ll start rinsing the boat in just a bit more than 24 hours. With those showers also comes a change in wind direction. Yup, right on the nose. We have been heading a bit farther East to be ready for the wind direction change. Well really, I had been really hoping the forecast would change the North East winds to merely East winds, then it would be a non issue. Doesn’t look to be happening, now that we are a few days out, the forecast should be close to reality.

Stopped into Jason’s Deli (are they still even in business?) for dinner and picked up some loaded baked potatoes for dinner. Loaded with bbq pulled pork. Since we couldn’t source the ‘gigantic’ spuds the Texas chain uses we opted for garden fresh Kamara (Kiwi), Yams (proper English?), Sweet Potato (American).. but these were “Kamala” as they came from the gardens of Gaua, Vanuatu. Yummy..

Left to go, 500 miles

Equator, 75 miles

Diesel burned, 0 liters. And for people from Texas, that is 0 gallons.😎

First 24 Hours to Marshalls

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A perfect morning for a sail. A little gray, not too much sun to get sun burnt. Nice gentle breeze, no drama when the sails are up. Still behind the reef so very little waves. Pretty sweet.

Sails up, and off to the races we go. First day, going conservative start with one reef in the main sail, just incase the forecast is a little off. Works perfectly, nice easy sail. As “Lonely Island’s” song goes “Busting 8 knots in my flippy floppies”. Nice start.

Still concerned about the SPCZ thunderstorms that would be ahead, but just as Moses did the red sea, the SPCZ split and left us alone. Warnings to the left of us, and some to the right, but the center was clear. Yippie.

However, the splitting left us with very little wind to sail with so we changed the stereo station from Pop to Country we landed on “Little Big Towns” “Pontoon” with the Chorus .. Motor Boating. For the next few days at least that “Motor boating” song will be stuck in your head and ours as we endure the drone of an engine to make reasonable progress.

The blue zone, comes with perks too. No electrical worries, batteries will be fully charged. Water tanks full, no reason not to run the water maker. Warm water, all the warm water you use.

Glassy conditions, sail ready should the wind show up

The blue zone was in the forecast, it just came a little sooner than hoping and the blue zone has gotten much larger ahead of us. We will not be setting any 24 distance records with just one motor running, we only dropped off a mere 130 nm toward Majuro, Marshall Islands in the first 24 hours.

So all good on the big watery road, a nice chicken peanut curry for dinner. Too many miles left to count…. 😎

Heading to La Playita at sunset.

Isla Taboga and the inevitable Return to La Playita

Located 7-miles off the coast of Panama are the Taboga islands.  Isla Tabogo  was called “Island of Flowers” when it was under Spanish rule.  They used this island as a base from which to loot the riches of Peru and the South American Continent.  Later, it became a notorious pirate hideout.  But in 1840, the island became the headquarters for the Pacific Steamship Navigation Company.  Then during the French Panama Canal construction, a hospital and sanitarium were built and the island was used to to treat workers with yellow fever.  Today, the island is a wildlife refuge across its 8km perimeter.

There are several hiking trails around both islands but unfortunately there is no easy way to get to shore.  There is one good anchorage between Isla Tabogo and El Morro which is supposed to be protected. Arrow below points to the anchorage.

Map of Isla Taboga and El Morro

Map of Isla Taboga and El Morro

We arrived in the middle of the afternoon and decided to watch the wind, waves, and current before going ashore.  The anchorage is full of commercial moorings and one large commercial dock that brings lots of traffic.  Finding an anchor spot was challenging as we did not want to be too close to a mooring.  We found what we thought was a good spot and endured the small incoming rolls.

IMAGE: Isla Taboga behind El Morro and below is the town at Isla Tabogo with the sun illuminating it.

Isla Tabogo behind El Morro and below is the town at Isla Tabogo

Isla Tabogo behind El Morro and below is the town at Isla Tabogo

The tide varied by 5 meters (yep, 15′) so we put out enough scope to cover high tide.

Boats that have returned to La Playita and their reasons why:

  • Itchy Foot – Rigging
  • Nomad – Navigation equipment
  • Shannigans – Electronics
  • Sugar Shack – Delayed deliveries
  • Moon Rebel – Electronics
  • And a few others who have escaped my memory