Ten Days to Panama, Second Day

The subject heading is taken from a Cruzian concept and means that this is the next day after the dance began. The crew is adjusting to three hour watches followed by six hours off. This means that sleeping and awakening come at all hours of the day or night. Last night we had some fresh breezes and comfortable temperatures in the cockpit with only t-shirts. Sailing the Caribbean is a wonderful thing. With Dave at the helm we hit over ten knots. The boat had a fair amount of pitch and roll (mild I am told) but it gave a whole new meaning to a sleepless night of "tossing and turning". This was in spite of being treated to a night of the quite quiet generator to provide us with air conditioning. As I write this the chart plotter in front of me says we have 427 nautical miles to the next check point and that will in only 65 hours. This morning up early I was treated to a fruit smoothie followed a little later with Sofia's famous (now if not before) chocolate croissants. I came up to the cockpit just in time to see chocolate all down the front of Dave and the area around him. He is the first on board for this leg to do laundry. We continue to sail with the mizzen up and wing on wing with the head sail on a spinnaker pole. Last night in the early evening there were numerous other boats in the area but today we have only spotted some debris in the water, lots of flying fish and some sea birds. We have had one strike on the fishing pole but nothing since then. All on board are in high spirits and looking forward to fresh lobsters and sights of the San Blas Islands.

13 08.5 N

64 22.9 W

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