The wind is a steady 40 knots now, whipping up seas to an impressive 5 meters. For our landlubber readers, 40 knots is around 80 kilometers per hour, so imagine sticking your head out the window on a motorway – that's kind of the feeling we're getting right now!
While things wouldn't exactly qualify as comfortable onboard, we have plenty of sea room and most importantly, we're safe. An extra layer of challenge emerged as we're beginning to encounter the shipping traffic who are also approaching Panama. Craig had his work cut out for him on watch, dodging ships with the AIS alarm blaring its warnings.
A couple of monster waves have crashed into the cockpit, forcing us to keep the doors shut. Our trusty fans are working overtime trying to keep things a bit more bearable inside. With belongings gradually migrating to the floor and joining the existing floor covering that's already relocated to the starboard side, it's clear things are a bit rough out there! As an indication of how big the waves are, there's a fish on the roof next to the solar panels – a bit of unexpected deck cargo!
But through it all, good old Namarie is taking it in her stride. Despite this being her first taste (and hopefully last!) of weather like this, she's holding up beautifully – no surprises from our trusty vessel.
There's a silver lining, though! All this wave action has provided the perfect opportunity to finally snag a pic.This is a monster wave literally meters from the back of the boat.
We'll keep you updated on our progress as we navigate these challenging conditions and get closer to Panama. We are hoping this breeze will begin to ease off by this evening and at least one fo the challanges of approacing Panama will be removed.
It may be worth explaining that the sea in the picture is not the horizon, just after I took the photo the wave went under the boat.
