DAY 5. GOLFITO, COSTA RICA, TO THE MARQUESAS
At Sea, Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Last night passed totally uneventfully. The sea was so calm and the SW
wind so steady that we felt when we were below in the cabin that we were
hardly moving at all. In the peace and quiet of the sea we could hear the
water passing down the side of the boat as one drifted off to sleep. We
woke this morning to find puffy trade-wind clouds and a 5-10 knot breeze
that was slightly more southerly than before. This is exactly what we
should expect after the doldrums.

We debate when we should go over on the other tack, but decide to wait
till we get farther south when the wind might become much more southerly
than it is at present and when we might indeed pick up the W-flowing
equatorial current. A double whammy. The air is so much more comfortable
than farther north. The direct sunshine is a trifle dangerous in this
cooler air because you can get a sunburn rapidly so close to the equator
(4-5o at present). But in the shade of the sail, for example, it is
delightful.

While the dawn espresso coffee is brewing and Kathleen is dozing below, I
do some cleaning around deck, washing the lazarette deck of grime that has
somehow come with us from Costa Rica. The cleaning makes me feel better,
and I eventually go below to enjoy my excellent Costa Rican coffee. Later
Kathleen makes us some muesli and cuts open the last of the cantaloupe. It
looks awful on the outside with white mould formed. Inside it has its
fermented bits, but otherwise totally delectable. This still leaves us
with three five big mangos (rapidly ripening), three big watermelons, five
or six pineapples, 15 or 20 oranges left from the big net bag, lots of
tomatoes and some Fuji apples. Kathleen picks things over every day and
has had to discard some oranges that have got a bit mushy. Washing the
cantaloupe in saltwater seems to have inhibited the moulds for a day or
two. Eventually we shall be reduced to potatoes and onions and canned
goods. For the moment, we are eating fresh stuff and not cooking anything
beyond and egg or two.

For the first time on this voyage, I streamed a yellow, 40-foot floating
line from the bowsprit so the line would lightly graze the hull along the
waterline. I shall do this on each side for thirty minutes each day. The
bottom paint will probably inhibit barnacle growth. But when one is heeled
over the topsides also become immersed in seawater, and goose-necked
barnacles can and do attach there. They are nearly impossible to get off
then, though if one attacks them with something like a credit card as soon
as one arrives in port you can get rid of them. Ann and Tom aboard S/V
Leonidas reported that when they arrived in The Marquesas last year they
had a foot or two of heavy, tenacious barnacle coverage up the side of the
hull. I have used this technique before after I learned about it from
Chuck of S/V Jacaranda. It seemed to work, so what do I have to lose? What
else do I have to do at sea?