5/31/14 Wandering Dolphin POS
GMT 1600
14 35.19N 133 35.84W
COG 285T
SOG 6.5kt
DMG 140 nautical miles
DTG 1273 nautical miles
Wind: NE 18-25
Temp: 86.6f
Pressure: 29.7
Sky: overcast, light rain
Seas: 4-6ft NE swells
Sails: double reefed Main, deep reefed jib, no stays'l
Hey! The flying fish was amazing! I am really kicking myself for all of these years throwing flying fish overboard in the morning! I scaled the fish, gutted him and fried him crispy in a pan with butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a little garlic just like I used to do with brookie trout back in the mountains. He was about the same size as most of those little brookies too. I just scoured the deck looking for fish this morning... None. The funny thing is, my family here wouldn't touch the fried fish... To them it's like I am eating out of the garbage can. Years spent finding them on deck and throwing them overboard have taken their toll. Frankly, I couldn't be more pleased... They are pretty small fish after all and no matter how many we find now... They're ALL for ME!
The weather was stormy with this cold front all day yesterday and in the afternoon the wind actually quit altogether for a while. We filled the day tank from the main tank and motored for a couple of hours, the batteries needed a little charge anyway. Our main fuel tank is done now so we have 20 gallons left in the day tank which we know from experience will run the engine for a little more than 24 hours. It should give us plenty of fuel to get into Hilo Harbor. These cloudy days are killing the solar charge. Thank goodness we also have the wind gen. As long as the wind is blowing better than 15 we can keep up just fine. If it blows 18-20 we can start the fridge and have cold drinks, if it blows 25-30 the kids can even play Xbox on a cloudy day.
I ended up getting a headache in the afternoon and had to sleep it off. I sometimes get migraines and have to take a high powered pain med but I hate to do that out here because they knock me out for a few hours. All was good though, I woke up feeling fine when we reefed the sails at 10:00 pm.
This cold front is still passing and so today looks just like yesterday. It's all shades of white and grey and a light drizzle of rain. The following seas are pretty big and the boat surfs down the waves pretty fast at times. Everything feels damp and a little cold. I think it's a great night to have our last pizza meal. We have enough ingredients left for two large pies and we have grown to love pizza night offshore.
I have my last lure in the water with forlorn hopes of catching a big one. We could all use the fresh meat. Yesterday we had rice with butter, sugar, and cinnamon for breakfast, popcorn and pretzels for lunch, and grilled canned chicken with stuffing and corn for supper. Oh and I grabbed a can of spam and we all ate it cold right out of the can at one point in the day.
We should be in Hawaii in a little more than a week! We have been out here for a month... That seems hard to believe. Everyone is in good spirits but we all are getting a little bit antsy for land. Benny will probably run around until he falls over, Kaleb is desperate for his updates on his games, Kanyon wants to walk and pace to his hearts content, Emily is dying for a little Skype face time with her special someone, Beck wants to stand in a hot shower for a full day and I want a Big Mac.
I think the strangest dichotomy out here is that our world is so small on the boat but at the same time it is so big all around us. We have not even seen a ship on AIS for two weeks and the AIS picks up ships for 50 miles all around us! The last ship we saw was heading for India and wouldn't arrive until the 29 of June and they traveled at 13 knots! The size of this ocean really cannot be understood by looking at a little globe. But then I look up at the stars and those distances really are so huge the human mind cannot wrap itself around them. Five-hundred years ago travelers and explorers traveled the oceans, a lot of them knowing it would be a one way trip. Whalers working out of New England 200 years ago would leave for work and be gone for five years or more and that was when they had to go all the way around Cape Horn just to get to their fishing grounds. I cannot help but wonder if one day we really will travel the vast distances between the stars. I know of the scientific limitations to space travel and faster than light travel but then again, Columbus could not have even imagined the jets and communications that make our world so small now. Here I sit, as far from land as a human might be and yet you will read this over coffee in a few minutes! Have a double shot vanilla latte with a croissant for me this morning!
Captain Tofer
GMT 1600
14 35.19N 133 35.84W
COG 285T
SOG 6.5kt
DMG 140 nautical miles
DTG 1273 nautical miles
Wind: NE 18-25
Temp: 86.6f
Pressure: 29.7
Sky: overcast, light rain
Seas: 4-6ft NE swells
Sails: double reefed Main, deep reefed jib, no stays'l
Hey! The flying fish was amazing! I am really kicking myself for all of these years throwing flying fish overboard in the morning! I scaled the fish, gutted him and fried him crispy in a pan with butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a little garlic just like I used to do with brookie trout back in the mountains. He was about the same size as most of those little brookies too. I just scoured the deck looking for fish this morning... None. The funny thing is, my family here wouldn't touch the fried fish... To them it's like I am eating out of the garbage can. Years spent finding them on deck and throwing them overboard have taken their toll. Frankly, I couldn't be more pleased... They are pretty small fish after all and no matter how many we find now... They're ALL for ME!
The weather was stormy with this cold front all day yesterday and in the afternoon the wind actually quit altogether for a while. We filled the day tank from the main tank and motored for a couple of hours, the batteries needed a little charge anyway. Our main fuel tank is done now so we have 20 gallons left in the day tank which we know from experience will run the engine for a little more than 24 hours. It should give us plenty of fuel to get into Hilo Harbor. These cloudy days are killing the solar charge. Thank goodness we also have the wind gen. As long as the wind is blowing better than 15 we can keep up just fine. If it blows 18-20 we can start the fridge and have cold drinks, if it blows 25-30 the kids can even play Xbox on a cloudy day.
I ended up getting a headache in the afternoon and had to sleep it off. I sometimes get migraines and have to take a high powered pain med but I hate to do that out here because they knock me out for a few hours. All was good though, I woke up feeling fine when we reefed the sails at 10:00 pm.
This cold front is still passing and so today looks just like yesterday. It's all shades of white and grey and a light drizzle of rain. The following seas are pretty big and the boat surfs down the waves pretty fast at times. Everything feels damp and a little cold. I think it's a great night to have our last pizza meal. We have enough ingredients left for two large pies and we have grown to love pizza night offshore.
I have my last lure in the water with forlorn hopes of catching a big one. We could all use the fresh meat. Yesterday we had rice with butter, sugar, and cinnamon for breakfast, popcorn and pretzels for lunch, and grilled canned chicken with stuffing and corn for supper. Oh and I grabbed a can of spam and we all ate it cold right out of the can at one point in the day.
We should be in Hawaii in a little more than a week! We have been out here for a month... That seems hard to believe. Everyone is in good spirits but we all are getting a little bit antsy for land. Benny will probably run around until he falls over, Kaleb is desperate for his updates on his games, Kanyon wants to walk and pace to his hearts content, Emily is dying for a little Skype face time with her special someone, Beck wants to stand in a hot shower for a full day and I want a Big Mac.
I think the strangest dichotomy out here is that our world is so small on the boat but at the same time it is so big all around us. We have not even seen a ship on AIS for two weeks and the AIS picks up ships for 50 miles all around us! The last ship we saw was heading for India and wouldn't arrive until the 29 of June and they traveled at 13 knots! The size of this ocean really cannot be understood by looking at a little globe. But then I look up at the stars and those distances really are so huge the human mind cannot wrap itself around them. Five-hundred years ago travelers and explorers traveled the oceans, a lot of them knowing it would be a one way trip. Whalers working out of New England 200 years ago would leave for work and be gone for five years or more and that was when they had to go all the way around Cape Horn just to get to their fishing grounds. I cannot help but wonder if one day we really will travel the vast distances between the stars. I know of the scientific limitations to space travel and faster than light travel but then again, Columbus could not have even imagined the jets and communications that make our world so small now. Here I sit, as far from land as a human might be and yet you will read this over coffee in a few minutes! Have a double shot vanilla latte with a croissant for me this morning!
Captain Tofer
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