Day 36: Panama to Ecuador – 10/02/10

My 2 to 5 am watch gets quite exciting at one point.  On the radar I notice a ship approaching directly behind us, and a little while later see its lights on the horizon (and it’s definitely not Mars this time!).  Then another one appears.  They are both travelling quite fast so I know they are not yachts.  The second one changes direction when it is quite far out and goes to our starboard side, but the other one comes a couple of miles away before going to our port side.  Now a couple of miles on a road is a long way away.  For large ships on the sea it isn’t.  In the end, reluctantly, I wake Mike just in case there is some strange navigational law that I have contravened (like not changing course myself) but all is OK although the huge thing passes just about one mile away.

We motor sail all night with just the one engine, and the sea is calm enough for me to dance around in the cockpit to amuse myself.  There is a moon tonight although it is hidden behind a blanket of cloud, which threaten to produce rain but never do.

I only watch about half an hour of TV before Jim relieves me of my watch at 5 am.  Staying asleep is difficult this time as the sea picks up and we start to slam into the waves.  The noise, rather than the motion is hideous and penetrates my sleep frequently giving a restless couple of hours.

When Mike brings me a cup of tea I get him to take it into the rear cabin and I slip into bed there to drink it.  By the time I have had my second one I feel quite sick, eat some ginger cookies and settle down with my eyes shut to ride out the queasy feeling.

By lunchtime I am feeling better and get up to make Mike and Jim something to eat.  No sooner than we have finished eating and Jim has gone down for a sleep, I suddenly spot a tail and a fin over Mike’s shoulder – a whale!  We shout to Jim while I attempt to photograph it but it is too far in the distance and doesn’t cooperate by staying on the surface for long enough.  Half an hour later, we spot more whales – 5 or 6 of them – sailing really close to the boat and having a good look at it.  I suppose our hulls look like like a couple of whales themselves.

Photo:  Whales swimming alongside the boat

The sightings carry on all afternoon.  They appear to have some babies with them too and these leap out of the water at frequent intervals but I never manage to capture them on video.

It is a cloudy day with variable winds and we motor, motor sail and sail at different times depending on the weather conditions.  It again is a cooler day, just 28 degrees which is not what you expect when you are crossing the equator, which we do at 6 minutes to 5 exactly.

Photo:  Not the weather you expect crossing the equator

We are dressed appropriately for the occasion.  Mike and Jim are wearing sarongs and I wear Mike’s knickers!  We all have a drink and Mike honours the nautical traditional of giving Neptune a drink.  Not having much alcohol on board, he just gives him the stuff we attempt to kill fish with.  I’m surprised that Neptune himself didn’t rise up in a huge wave and spit it back at him.  Horrible stuff.

Photos:  Appropriately dressed for crossing the equator

The rest of the day follows the same unexciting pattern.  Some wind, some sailing, some motoring, some food and some sleep.

Our position is:  0 deg 37 min S, 81 deg 10 min W

Distance so far:  1940 nautical miles