5/4 8pm Friday
I have nothing exciting to report. We are 2/3 of the way there, have some wind for the moment but motored for a few hours today to make some miles because there wasn't any wind. We put the new line on the fishing rod and dragged it for a while but nothing bit. Today was the hottest day we've had yet this passage with clear blue sky and not much of a breeze. I made some butterscotch brownies, some pork black bean chili and a loaf of very dense bread to go with it. I don't know what it is about yeast bread making but I don't have a knack for it at all! I may try again tomorrow and see about being more careful with the yeast, but I know of nothing else to do different. Anybody who's good at it always says there's nothing to it. Not so!
We ate the last of the lettuce for a salad at dinner and I can definitely say it's getting a little spacious in the “crisper” area of the fridge. I look in and  say “ hello in there!” and almost hear an echo. There are a few more goodies though, I think we're going to make it!

5/5 Saturday 8pm
Back on watch again. I feel like a little kid with all my “activities” around me in the cockpit. A book, a talking book, the Walkman with movies & music, the book French for Cruisers that I'm supposed to be studying (I've made it to chapter 1) headlight, safety harness & clip which I'm not wearing since it's so calm right now, popcorn; I even changed things up a little tonight and added a cup of hazelnut coffee. We started motoring at 2am this morning and have continued since- there's no wind. The GRIB file (weather forecast) says there's wind coming, which will be good. Although we don't mind motoring some- it makes for a very calm motion, good sleeping, easy to do projects or be up on deck, it allows us to fully charge the batteries and make lots of water but it does heat up the cabin & make noise. Since it's so hot down here, we need to run a blower in the engine compartment to keep air moving and even then we still have to crack the engine cover to allow more air in so it is kind of noisy hour after hour.
We thought we'd stay on Galapagos time until we reached the Marquesas so as not to disturb our days too much but we're going to have to change the clocks. The watches start at 7:30 but it's still late afternoon now since we've gone so far west. The when I get up at 7:30a it's still night out. So we'll do that tomorrow.
We were quite busy today. Last night, all of a sudden I got a few whiffs of something electrical smoking. I quick got Jon up and we went through every system we have looking for a problem but we found nothing and the smell disappeared. We looked around more today and still nothing. I'm sure it'll turn up again. Anyway, as I was searching through the cockpit lockers, the lid came crashing down and broke some of the teak that covers the lids so Jon had to re-glue that today and I'll revarnish it soon. He made a loaf of bread, trying to improve upon my attempt but it still turned out short and dense. We'll eat it but we can't share it with anyone! We got several bites on the rods but didn't reel anything in. I made a thai fish curry with some of the mahi I had frozen fully intending to be getting more of it today but you can't count on getting fish! I put the curry over rice noodles w/ carrots. We certainly ate our colors for that meal!
While we were eating lunch, a ship popped up on our chart and we were on a collision course. We have AIS- a collision avoidance system that picks up identifying information from any commercial ships and even some private vessels now. When one comes into range (about 20 miles) it shows on your chart and gives important info as to whether you're on a collision course and if so, how close will you pass. The best thing is that the ship is identified by name, type, dimensions, destination, etc so you can radio them by name- in this case The Esmerelda, bound for Tahiti. You wouldn't think that in all this expanse of ocean that 2 boats would end up on a collision course but that's how it seems to work! But we radioed the ship and a most pleasant man responded & said he'd alter his course to give plenty of room for us to pass.  The AIS is one of our favorite things onboard.
We have about another week to go, depending on wind. We have just under 900 miles left to cover. The number of boats on the radio net is shrinking as people arrive at their destination and are ashore celebrating rather than checking in on the evening net! We're jealous! We can't wait till it's our turn.