Day 16 Sun May 2

Adrienne: New chart

We sailed off the edge of our passage chart tonight. I got up for my watch at 3.30 am and noted the log and saw that Joe had plotted our position, in the bottom left hand corner. So once I had made sure that the north east breeze was going to hold I dug in the charts under the chart table, a subset of our supply, and fished out other passage charts that covered the next leg of our journey.

This particular spot on the globe seems to have very low priority with map makers, either they start at the equator and work down, or they start slightly below the equator, or they start about 5 degrees north of the equator and work up. It is like a cartographer's Bermuda Triangle. And then the other edge may end at 130 degrees west or perhaps 120 degrees. The chart Joe chose goes up to 2 degrees north, and 110 degrees west at its north eastern most point. So I can hardly wait until we get to 2 degrees north! We are at 03 degrees 37 minutes north, a mere 83 miles to leap from the margin into the briny deep of the chart. Each minute is a nautical mile and each degree is 60 nautical miles, so for now I just let us sit in the ample margin. Funny that a small penciled cross on a piece of paper should feel so important to me!

So now it is Sunday night and though officially out of the ITCZ we are not! We have all the characteristics: rain manifesting out of nowhere, wind and waves coming from many directions and virtually no wind. So tonight we motor, whereas last night thankfully the north east wind blew all night.

The back verandah AKA the cockpit looks very festive with all our smalls and hand towels hanging to "dry"; there comes a point when laundry becomes top priority!

Not seeing any other boats or ships for several days now has contributed to our feeling rather small and insignificant.. We do have some very small traveling companions - a flock of fruit flies. They are not stupid you know, very hard to get them to walk the plank. I managed to trap a small cluster in a little can with a lid that I put kitchen scraps in. I handed it up to Joe and said here throw them over board, but don't throw the plastic lid, do it fast! Well guess who came back down into the cabin first, my little flock! I remember, from other passages that as the supply of fresh veggies and fruits disappears so do they..

I made the sour dough starter and the salsa verde, am waiting for slightly more regular movement in the cabin to make the yogurt! Will that happen before we reach port? Yogurt doesn't like to move when it is setting!

Mid passage we are talking more about bringing the boat back home and regrouping! I wonder how we will feel once we are thru this sector of the voyage?