Wednesday, April 5, 2017

First 48 Hours: Pacific Ocean Crossing

All is well aboard SV Terrapin

We motored for the first 2 hours in an effort to get out of Banderas Bay. Since then we've enjoyed a steady beam reach with winds between 8-17 knots and we've kept a steady 5-6 knot pace.

We were a little surprised at the amount of traffic coming and going from Mexico. We knew we were going to be crossing the Manzanillo shipping lanes, just didn't expect to feel like we were playing Frogger with fuel tankers, auto transporters, cargo container vessels among others. We haven't seen another vessel since 10pm last night.

So far it's been chilly and we've been sailing in warm fleece.

Vessels we have heard calling in on the nightly Pacific Puddle Jump net and reported as making progress and doing well are as follows:

SV Wiz
SV Coastal Drifter
SV Music
SV Fandango
SV Myaluga
SV Te Poe Rava
SV Slow Flight
SV All Day
SV Black Watch

SV Monarch had to turn around and head back to La Cruz due to a broken SSB radio.

Our favorite item on board thus far is the Delorme Inreach. With our unlimited texting we've been able to stay in constant contact with our weather router, read that North Carolina won the NCAA Basketball tournament by only 1 point and the girls can communicate with Julian off SV Cape D who left 3/11 from Panama and is within 700 miles of Hiva Oa. Our only issue has been making contact with those who have the Iridium. Although we have their email address we've yet to be able to make contact with Coastal Drifter, Wiz, Monarch and Slow Flight. Not sure if there's something we're missing, or what.

The girls are doing well. Emma's seasickness hasn't been much of a problem. Jessica is still her anxious self and pops her head into the cockpit throughout my shift to ensure I'm clipped in and safe.

Having a 3rd adult as crew has been like night and day. Having 8 hours off in between shifts versus 4 makes all the difference in the world.

We still have about 2500 nautical miles to Hiva Oa.

-- Sent via SSB Radio


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At 4/5/2017 4:23 PM (utc) our position was 18°01.36'N 108°09.07'W

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