In tomorrow
17 May 2013 | Heading west
Bill
As of now, we should be entering Palau sometime tomorrow morning. Yesterday, we were forced to motor for almost 20 hours as not only did the wind die, but what there was off it, suddenly started coming out of the west. First time we have seen that. About 0730, the rains started with vengeance. It poured and poured stopping most of our visibility. We motored so that we could use the radar to see what was around us. With the death of the wind, we were forced to motor till early this morning when what little wind we could get finally came back. It's about 7 knots and finally from the east. We still have 84 miles to go and expect to be entering the harbor about 0800. We tried to plan our speed with the time we need to enter. For a while, we thought we would have to heave to out side the harbor for a while till the Sun came up, but with the change in wind and weather, it has made it unnecessary. We're ding about 3-4 knots so our timing should be about right.
Other than that, all is well. Tracy is cleaning up down below since it's a relatively calm day with small swells to move us about. We will be radioing the Port Authority as we enter the channel to the harbor so that they can make the necessary calls to Immigration and Customs so they can meet us at the dock along with several other government agencies. We even scanned and made copies of both of the "kids" rabies certificates so that should they ask for them, we will have them ready. Most countries just ask to see them but we have been told to have copies ready.
That's about it for now. We've come 1450 miles so far and will hit the 12,000 mile mark since we left Mexico before we dock tomorrow. Add in the almost 9,000 we did during our trip up to Alaska and down the coast and into Mexico for a year and we have covered a lot of water. No clue as to how long we will stay in Palau. We have a few more things to repair but not like it was in Pohnpei. We have a small diesel leak I will have to track down and try and find out the problem with the Hood roller furling system that jammed. A few stitches into the genoa sail and that's about it(so far). Let's hope it continues this way. It's been a nice easy voyage other than the few storms we ran into. A nice change from the trip up from Tuvalu to Pohnpei back in late December and January.
Tomorrow, in we go.