(posted 04/30/24)
We did not get much sleep. There was a big power boost in the bay that was having a party. Complete with drunken sing alongs to very loud music. This was still going strong at 0430, when we got up to get underway. A bit of wind had also shown up at about 0200. So, we debated not leaving today.
About this crossing, it’s about 350 miles at about 6.5 knots 55 +/- hours, with just the two of us. The weather prediction was pretty good for the 3 days, the moon is about 3/4 full and waning and is rising about 9 ish, which means only a few hours of no moon or sunlight. It’s a bit later the next day. Then there’s the marina we are heading to in San Blas, it’s up a river, that’s not huge. We have touched the bottom there before, so we want high tide for going in. On the 28th, high tide is 1417 at 1.62 feet. We decided to get going.
It was a little windy with waves for the first couple of hours, but then calmed down. We were able to sail for a couple of hours, then the wind went away. We motored for a couple of hours, then sailed some, finally by dusk the wind was down to effectively zero and we motored.
We split up the night watch with Reneé taking the 2100 to 0100, and I took the 0100 to 0500.
We are having issues with the new electronics, periodically all three chart plotters restart, and the autopilot loses its signal. When this was first happening, the autopilot was also dying, and we had to cycle the power to start everything back up. I think part of the problem was the battery charger/inverter was doing a restart when it couldn’t find the internet. I turned that “feature” off, and now it’s just the chart plotters that restart. Occasionally, the autopilot just loses the signal, but the chart plotters are still working. We are still working on what the problem is. In the meantime, we are also working on how and what we have to do when it happens.
From Reneé
4/26/24
Two things that happened today as we began our crossing.
1) my blue hat flew into the water and since it blended in well, retrieving it would be impossible to.
2) as I was driving and Neil was trying to nap in the cockpit. He laughed at a seagull trying to land in our solar panels. I then got involved and yelled at the bird upon each effort (and he was trying over and over). This was of course keeping Neil awake. Finally i picked up the fishing net and swung it at him. This scared him and his friend (who was already resting on the panels – though we couldn’t see him) away. They didn’t come back.
