May 1, 2014 - Almost There -

Getting close!!  This morning Courage threw out the lures before even breakfast.  Since we are moving slower, we figured we could use the rods and reels.  Within 5 minutes, both fishing rods were reeling.  Courage grabbed the first and I grabbed the second.  As we reeled in, the lines were crossed.  Cassidy took over Courage's reel while he worked on it.  I walked my reel across the back of the boat by climbing into the dinghy so that the lines were together.  My fish came in first, a nice sized tuna.  Not a monster from the sea, but maybe an 8 pounder.  Perfect.  He became unhooked on our bottom swim step as he came up; Courage jumped on him and kept him onboard.  Then Cassidy wound hers in, about a 10# tuna.  Beautiful!  We brought in the lines, as that was enough fish for a couple of days for sure!  Great start to the day!  The kids made a fish stew of tail, roe and heart.  Mmmmmm.

The net was only Cassidy talking to 2 other boats. They are both 50 miles ahead of us.  We have 250 miles to go, they have 200 each.  One of them was motoring.  The other shared a story of when they came into Chile they motored and had only a couple liters of fuel left.  When they tried to resupply, they couldn't get fuel, so had to leave with none.  He said he learned his lesson about motoring to an empty tank when entering a remote harbor and counting on fuel.  It's true.  We've heard that these little remote islands that we are going to have a run on their fruits/veggies when all these boats arrive.  ATMs may be empty for weeks.  I imagine fuel is the same issue.  We couldn't get diesel or propane in the Galapagos.  There were some deals for diesel worked in the cover of night by some of the boats where locals mark up the price they pay $1.25/gallon to $5/gallon and sell it to boats, which is forbidden.  Who knows what the local politics will be at any particular place that you go next.  We are OK for fuel.

So far we have been sailing in the light winds at 4-5 knots.  We can't motor much faster and we'd be wasting fuel and spending money that way.  Courage pulled the spinnaker to the starboard side and opened the Genoa to the port side - - sort of a wing on wing scenario to try to increase our canvas acreage.  The other boats on the net were fascinated that we are still heading nicely downwind under a spinnaker.  We've been doing it for days and holding the same ground with them every day.  They are doing tacks and sail changes many times per day to optimize.  We are going a straight line to our destination, we are going with the waves making it smoother, and we are moving decently.  No need to change that!

We are going to have to start our motors when we get closer, but not for a while.  Our starboard motor is out of commission at this point.  We caught that fishing line a couple of weeks back and it's really hooked down there, so probably wrapped on the prop and/or rudder.  It hasn't been calm enough to dive on it and it's not desperate that we do it, but we can't use our starboard engine until we get that sorted out.

We had tuna for lunch, tuna for dinner, and we love it!  I used my Italian dressing overstock to season the fish for lunch and it was quite good.  I have decided to use canned chicken and Caesar dressing to have chicken Caesar wraps or something.  Looking forward to it.  Couldn't really open a can of chicken when we had fresh tuna and tuna Caesar didn't sound good.  So, it'll have to wait.

Our power is low; we aren't moving fast enough for the hydro-generator and the winds aren't enough for the wind generators, so it's only solar.  With the fish, we needed to run the fridge a fair amount, so we are on the low side for power!

The entire boat has things dropped on the floor.  I guess I've given up.  I get seasick when I change position a lot (like bending down, standing up, turning around, etc.)  So spending hours bending down picking up sounds completely unwelcome.  And despite efforts, gravity is extreme out here at sea apparently, so an amazing amount of things hit the floor every day, making it a futile effort.  I'll admit when I beat, no sense in exercises of utility.  But, it appears that once we are anchored and have been to shore a few times, I'm going to send everyone to shore and spend a little personal time finding the floor.  Better yet, I'm going to employ the children to find the floor if possible.  They can pick up; it's the organizing and storing that they need the help on.  They just pile it somewhere else.  But at this point, I have decided to accept what is, live with it until better circumstances to make a meaningful improvement.

We've been watching the "Human Plant" PBS special (thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the videos).  It's been very interesting.  Our travels make these cultures not seem so bizarre.  There was an 11-year-old hunting tarantulas in the jungle and cooking them on a fire, guys catching bats in nets for dinner, people shooting poison darts at monkeys for dinner, a guy climbing a 70-foot tree freehand for honey, etc.  While I'm not necessarily recommending this lifestyle, I can see the settings in which they make sense.  It's nice to get a perspective of these cultures that is not just foreign and bizarre, but understanding their settings and circumstances that make their solutions actually very reasonable and practical.

Shannon