Not really, but it seems like I should. At 8:00 this morning I was only 140 miles away from the canal breakwater. After sailing over 5300 miles to get here, it seems reaaalllly close!
But, despite being close, I still have my regular routine for today, and that includes walking the deck at first light to toss the flying fish back into the sea, before they baked onto the fiberglass by the sun. I don’t think a day has gone by since I reached the southern tropics more than 3 weeks ago, that I didn’t have at least one flying fish to toss back. Usually there are 2 or 3, typically from 3 to 6 inches long. Many times I have been tempted to fry them up for breakfast, but I understand they are bony and fishy tasting, and only good when truly starving, which I am not.
I hope I don’t jinx my good luck, but since it is already sunny, I can safely say that I have enjoyed sunshine every single day of this trip. 33 days at sea, and 33 days of sunshine. In fact, the only rain I had was from a few passing squalls near the equator. When you consider I also had a perfect 20 days of sunshine on my last long sail (20 days from Fortaleza Brazil down to Buenos Aires last year), I’m not sure how to account for all this good fortune. I just hope I haven’t ruined my next trip by bragging about it…
I enjoyed good following winds and seas yesterday, and covered 173 miles. So with only 140 to go, I am likely to arrive at the Cristobol breakwater around 2am local time- the dark of night with no moon up yet. We’ll see how today goes, but I am considering intentionally slowing down a bit (which is really hard and unnatural for me), to time my arrival with first light around 5:30am local. Hopefully, tomorrows report will be from the dock at Shelter Bay marina.
P.S. – Happy tax day!
4/15 8am 10.37N 77.55W 5309nm gone, 140nm to go