Change in Wind Direction
16 May 2018 | Pacific Ocean on route to French Polynesia
Helen/Mark
It was an extremely bumpy ride last night. I was not able to fall asleep in the forward cabin as we were bouncing too much. I finally resorted to the aft cabin and fell asleep. The four hour sleep shift goes by way too fast. Many stars greeted me as I took my watch shift at midnight. Mark pointed out a light in the distance which he identified as a cargo ship named Pamyat Ilicha from AIS. It showed on the radar at 14 miles out. Mark took a bearing using the radar and the bearing didn't change as it continued to come closer indicating a collision course. Mark tried calling the ship using the VHF radio, but no answered the call When the ship was 2 miles away, Mark changed our course, so there would not be a collision. We sailed towards their stern to make sure we crossed behind them. Do you know how big this ocean is and the chances that someone would be crossing our course at the same time as us? Unbelievable! I am just thankful that I was not on watch at that time. I spent my time reading. I have gone back to re-read some of my books. I read them years ago and it's interesting to see what else I can pick up from the information. Our wind direction changed pushing us off our rhumb line. The seas were only 2-4 feet but close together and choppy. The boat has been bobbing and hitting the waves, causing us to be pushed around too. Mark took his second sleep after breakfast. I did some clean up and had a hot lunch all made by the time he woke up. We were able to shower on the back steps today. After early morning cloud cover, the sun was out the rest of the day and topped up our batteries from the solar panels. We saw only a small amount of orange in the sky as it set for the day. Since we didn't get much sleep or our sleep was disturbed, we each took an hour or so nap this afternoon. It was hot in the cabin, so the fan was very helpful. We watched the movie, The Hobbit, as we get into the Lord of the Rings movies. Mark made popcorn. These are my favorite movies. Read all the books many years ago. We ran the water maker for a few hours and now have a full water tank. Reading and playing games took up our time today. Mark read up on the islands where we are headed. We are going thru the many cruising guides too. Thanks again, for all the satellite messages. It's always very much appreciated. Again, we cannot seem to find any good radio stations on the Single Side Band radio. So, our news is lacking on this trip. I found several channels with foreign speaking hosts, which I cannot understand. We have 579 more nautical miles to Tiputa on the island of Rangiroa in the Tuamotus Island Chain. The movie was lengthy and we had dinner while we watched. So, we are behind on this blog entry. I am heading to bed for my 1st sleep.