Moku pe'a Report

30 April 0600 position 15-17N 157-22W. Day's run 143 miles.

I am finally settling into boat life and, except for missing Lori, leaving
thoughts of life at home behind. It was exhausting getting ready for this
planned seven month trip. Besides ensuring that the boat was ready, I had
to get my life ashore organized to run on auto pilot as much as possible
while I am gone. Finish 2013 taxes, pay property tax in advance, put
other bills on auto pay, make sure car and house maintenance is done… The
list goes on and on. It would have been even more difficult if Lori
wasn't there to hold the fort down. Rocky didn't have to worry about the
boat, but he also had to get his property management business organized to
run without him.

It's like we have been riding the rail South since our last report. Wind
direction is unchanged from its ENE direction, and has only slowly
increased from 8 to 12 knots. We put a reef in the main during the
afternoon to make it easier for the auto pilot to steer and the reef has
been in since. Speed varies from 5.5 knots in the lulls to 6.5 in the
puffs. We rarely have to adjust anything during a watch.
.
We haven't seen a single sign of human life since our first night at sea,
but I expect that to change shortly. At 2200 we left the US Economic zone
that extends 200 miles from our shores. This is the boundary that
foreign fishing boats must stay outside of. On our last trip to the South
Pacific we also saw nothing inside of the Economic zone, but outside
there was a lot of Asian fishing boat traffic.

The increasing number of fishing boats and their detrimental effect on sea
life are the changes I have noticed most in the last 40 years. My early
trips were remarkable for both the abundance of observed sea life and the
lack of other vessels seen. Whales, sharks, ,dolphins, killer whales, and
jumping tuna covering the ocean as far as the eye could see are all
memories of my early voyages South. If the downward trend continues, we
may not see anything exciting this passage in the way of sea life. It was
also unusual to see another vessel outside of the port areas during a
crossing, but in later trips we've seen more and more.

We fished today without any luck. We'll try a different lure tomorrow.

There is no sign of El Nino out here yet. It is still comfortable during
the day and cool enough for sweatshirts at night. We are both enjoying
our afternoon bath ritual, and it will likely only get better as the
water warms nearer the equator.

Nothing needed fixing on the boat today, but I did have a problem in the
galley spilling some of the liquid out of a can of chicken onto the floor
while making curry for dinner. The smelly greasy mess was not easy to
clean up.

Rocky is now one up in the cribbage tournament, but I am planning a
comeback.