Marquisas Passage Day 7

Noon-to-noon run of 187 miles. There doesn't seem to be any discernible current. Most boats that leave the Galapagos do their passage further north, around 5-6 degrees latitude. We are down at 10*, about 250-300 miles south. Further north you are supposed to enjoy a nice current in your favor, often around a knot. That gives you an extra 24 miles a day for free. The down side to being further north is that the trade winds are typically lighter. I haven't heard a single report from any boats on passage in that area so far, so not sure what is happening up there this year.

There must still be some tuna around, as we saw about .75 miles astern of us another trawler -- our third. It was a 164 foot white Japanese ship the Kineamaru No. 138.

The other day we moved the ship's clock back to catch up with the sun. Boat time is now equal to Mountain Standard Time. This helps to put the sun overhead at noon and lets it set at around 6:30. Every 15 degs of longitude we pass moves the time an one hour. It is hard to believe that we are due south of the mountain states. Take a look at world map and you can see how far east central and south America are.

In the meantime, we'll keep on sailing west.

Paul


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