It is funny how the little things seem so amazing now. Life is much simpler than in the old days back in the States. Of course so much stress is gone from the daily life of working and earning and paying bills and that makes a big difference but still - it is the little things that we notice most nowadays. Casting a new shadow; having to choose between practicing music or reading; etc.
We are in the ITCZ and about to move out of it - well unless it decides to move south and envelope us once again. We think we've moved through it twice now. Formerly known as the Doldrums, it is the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone where the north winds of the northern hemisphere meet the south winds of the southern hemisphere meet. All goes quiet, storms brew - mostly thunder heads or squalls. We motored between two enormous ones two nights ago; it was an eerie feeling - knowing that we could be hit with super gusts, heavy rain, etc enough to rip sails and everything off the boat if we were unlucky. We weren't and just got to look long and hard at potential disaster.
We did find our first squall ever on April 1st. We were just putting along when a dark cloud - nimbostratus - formed and came right for us in less than 15 minutes. It was not a thunderhead so we knew it was just rain but man was there lots of it. We went up on the foredeck and had our first "squall shower". More than enough fresh water, and warm water to boot. It was great.
We are now less than 400 nm to the Galapagos Islands. We've found rain, thunderheads, no wind, lots of wind, and strange currents in differing directions. In about four days we'll see the strange sites of the famous islands.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment