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Gray Days and Unwanted Guests

It's anything but tropical out here. The sky is completely overcast, and everything looks gray and miserable. The wind is hovering around the mid-20s, with the apparent wind a bit higher, and occaisional rain. We've got the main sail reefed and are motor sailing, and most of the time we can point directly towards the Galapagos with the apparent wind around 30 degrees. We did have a brief moment of disappointment last night when we had to bear away 20 degrees, but the wind came back south about an hour later.

With less than 300 nautical miles to go, we're hoping to arrive early Tuesday morning. To make up for lost time, we plan to leave within 24 hours. We just need to get fuel and a few provisions, which shouldn't be too difficult. I'm hoping they can bring fuel drums to the boat and pump it directly into our tanks.

We've had a couple of uninvited guests in the last two days, though not as many as I expected for this area. Some of them didn't survive the encounter, while others definitely left an 'impression'. I don't know if most people are aware of the quantity of the 'deposits' of a large seabird, but they are substantial. If that's the weight they need to get rid of, I'm surprised they can fly. Some of them are more considerate than others and face inwards on the leeward side, thoughtfully dropping everything into the sea. Others sit on the windward side facing outwards, leaving a mess everywhere that then gets blown downwind all over the boat. We've also had three flying fish and three squid - yes, squids can jump! I've even found them squashed into the main sail cover before.

It’s been far more bouncy the last 24 hours, and we're definitely looking forward to 'turning the corner' which will happen after we leave the Galapagos and start heading west rather than southish. The weather across the Pacific is looking ideal for the first half, with the wind possibly shifting further east as we get closer to Tahiti, so it might be a little far aft, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

The unthoughtful variety.
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