Chilly Equator!
26 March 2007 | Ecuador - Galapagos
Cassie
It is indeed awesome to be back on the water. The weather has been mild. We've had 6-10kt of breeze right out of the west, sometimes
veering south. There has been much motor sailing.
All was fine and dandy until our engine, favorably known as Mr. Perkins, started to randomly surge. This is usually a cry for a primary fuel filter change. No problem. We switched to the other primary filter and to our dismay there was no change. Arggh. It turned out to be the secondary fuel filter, AKA pain-in-the-ass-to-change-takes-forever-to-prime-filter. After cussing through that task, the generator shut down for no apparent reason. It turned out to be an auto shut down. There was no water was coming from the exhaust and it had overheated. Dad took apart the sea chest and cleaned out a rather crusty nasty strainer, but no joy. He figured that it must be the saltwater intake impellor.
Actually, dad bet me $5 dollars on it and he won. Unfortunately, he still owes me 10 bagillion
dollars for an unlucky bet regarding Lonesome Dove. Who bets that much, really? He keeps telling me the check is in the mail. I'm holding Sora
for collateral. Anyway, he changed the impellor and voila! The genny purred. He had a most productive day.
Cooking on a boat has become one of my creative outlets. I've been spending much of my time in the galley inventing recipes. I discovered that cantaloupe with salt, mayo and hot sauce is eavenly. I've also been training the captains taste buds. When we first left he wolfed everything down and his only comment was a burp of thanks. Now I get not only compliments, but constructive criticism as well. Apparently you can teach an old dog new tricks.
We're virtually right on the equator, right? Well, get this. It's almost cold. If you're not in the sun, you get the damn goose bumps. Our sweats go on at sunset. We think it's probably the Humbolt current, which unlike the Gulf Stream, cools things down a bit. The water temp was 71f when we left yesterday and now it's averaging around 62f
degrees.
We've stayed true to our floatella. I had anticipated that dad couldn't stand slowing down, but we're all within a couple of miles of one
another, and making pretty good time. We should "Land Ho!" Thursday morning or early afternoon.
Cheers to my good buddy Neal, who is concerned about our livers,
Cass