Position: 19 31.468 N 66 12.055 W (see our SPOT page to see where this is)
Distance: 119nm
This has been a fantastic beginning to our passage. We left at 0700 yesterday morning. The winds have been just about perfect and the seas are very manageable. We started with wind out of the SE between 5 and 8 knots. That was pretty slow going. However, both the wind and seas have increased overnight with us now up to 7.5 to 8 knots and have backed to the ESE which allows us to move more to the W than N and that brings us closer to our destination.
With the kind of forecasts we've been getting for this area (light winds) we have been using 4 knots as our planning speed (and will continue to do so for now) but yesterday we managed just about 5 knots average in 24 hours which certainly beats the forecast. With any luck we will stay in this band of trade winds the whole way. The GRIB forecasts suggest that the wind should strengthen and back all the way to the E later today. That would put us on a nice fast broad reach all the way to the Bahamas and will arrive a day or two early. Fingers crossed.
The nearly full moon was glorious last night. It couldn't have been a better night passage. Standing watch was a pleasure. We managed to catch some kind of fish though it was scrawny, bony and the ugliest specimen I've ever seen. Aidan is researching what it might be. We didn't keep it as there wasn't enough flesh on its bones to make a meal.
We are passing by Puerto Rico today though we are too far off shore (60nm) to see it. We are also passing over the, Puerto Rico Trench, the second deepest underwater trench in the world. We can't really tell a difference from here but it's pretty cool that we're sailing over enough water to cover over Mt. Baker, nearly twice!
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