This afternoon sometime, I should cross out of Brazilian waters and into the waters of French Guiana. Not that it really makes any difference to me, as I am staying off the continental shelf, 80-100 miles offshore, to catch the best northbound current and avoid fishing boats and nets and stuff. But still, it is another sign of progress.
Yesterday I overtook the mystery sailboat about 11am, when I was about 1 mile to windward of them. We chatted on the radio a bit- it was the Mary Eliza, a Hallberg-Rassy 42 from Holland, sailing from Fortaleza Brazil to Domburg Suriname, where there is a bit of a dutch boater colony. As he carried no treasure worth plundering, I neither boarded him nor sunk his ship, and instead wished him safe travels.
The east winds have been pretty consistent, sometimes a little north of east, sometimes a little south of east, but a steady 12-18 knots, which gave me another 200-mile day. If this pace keeps up, I may well get into Panama on the 16th. But there is still almost 2000 miles between here and there, so we’ll have to wait and see.
4/5 8am 4.54N 49.26W 3525nm gone, 1951nm to go.