9/19 - Left Curacao Marine at 8:45; bridge opened for us on request when we got there; and we’re on our course at about 9:00. Seas are calm and wind is essentially non-existent, so we’re motoring at 2,000 rpm. Began doing 6.2-3 knts., but found some counter current and down to 5.6-7 knts. along most of the coast of Curacao on our way to our first Way point midway between Curacao and Aruba. It’ darn hot. As it gets dark sea gets a little more lumpy, wind is too much on our nose to keep a sail up and our speed drops below 5 knts. (Don’t want to run engine faster until get a better feel for our fuel consumption because it’s a long trip and forecast is for light winds the whole way.) Later in the middle of the night we are surrounded by strong thunderstorms. Fortunately no strikes too near, but a lot of rain.
9/20 - Still cloudy and drizzling when I get up for my 6:00 a.m. watch, but no thunderstorms at present. Sun still manages to rise as a big red ball behind us in the East. We struggled with our speed last night (generally well under 5 knts.) but it’s up a bit this morning. Turn the engine off at 9:30 when we can put up the jib and do close to 6 knts. without the engine and sometimes more. Had been running engine at 2100 rpm since 6:00 p.m. or so last night. After about 2 hrs. time to put the engine on again. Wind is moderate but too close to the nose to be much good. Around 10:00 we bear off a little and our speed increases nicely, running with jib and engine at 2000 rpm. Skies have cleared although there’s a huge system to port, seemingly on shore and we decide that when I go on watch again at 3:00 p.m., that we’ll the engine up to 2600 rpm. for an hour or so to kick in the turbo and blow out accumulated unburned fuel. The guys tell me that while I took a nap two little birds flew onto the boat and that one went into the cabin. Obviously they chased it out. When I start my watch and ratchet the rpms up to 2600 for an hour we’re doing over 8 knts. and then even when we go back to 2,000 rpm the boat is doing well over 7 in light winds. Seems like we’ve finally picked up a favorable current. All of the threatening systems seem to have blown out of our way or dissipated and by early evening wind and swells are way down and we’re motoring happily at over 7 knots at 2000 rpm with the jib providing occasional assistance and general stability. I feel something large land on my head and swat at it thinking it’s a big bug. Luckily I miss and off flies one of the birds that had visited earlier. It actually landed on my bare head. Guess there’s a first for everything. It’s “red sky at night” and we have a big steak dinner. By midnight wind totally dies down, we take in the jib, and the moon shows up.
9/21 - It’s overcast and still when we wake up. We continue to motor at 2,000 rpm, but cannot sail at all. It stays that way until 2:00 when we get a 20 plus knt. wind on our nose and the seas build to the point where we’re going too slowly and I have to ratchet the rpms up to 2,200. We struggle with headwinds and impeding seas until about 7:00 when the wind and the seas abate, but with some wind on our nose and some minor seas, we are only making about 5.5 knts. at 2200 rpm. I’m exhausted and at dinner time the seas are still lumpy, so even though I prepared meatballs for cooking earlier in the day, we eat sandwiches for dinner. Night is quiet with low winds and flat seas. We continue at an average of 5.6 knts. at 2200 rpm.
9/22 - Some lightening in the distance on occasion in the early hours, but not near us. It’s 4:00 a.m. and we’ve past Santa Marta on the way towards Cartagena, continuing at 2200 rpm at an average of 5.6 knts. Fuel gauge showing 3/4. Run at 2200 until 10:15, then run at 2600 until 11:15, gained about 1 knt. (6.5) over 2200, which suggests a current of at least 1 knt. against us. We should do 7.5 knts. or better at 2600 in flat seas without appreciable wind. Fuel gauge showing a little less than 3/4 at 10:30 a.m. We are intersecting a sea tug towing a large container ship towards Cartagena, so we pay attention for the next two hours. It’s a really long tow so we want to be sure we’re on the correct side of it. Throttle down to 2000 rpm at one point to increase the CPA (Closest Point of Approach) and we’re doing 5.7/5.8 knots at 2000 rpm when we weren’t doing quite that at 2200 rpm a while ago, so that’s a good thing. Guess we’re out of the current somewhat. Two of those land birds of the kind that landed on my head the other day come to roost on the lifelines. They’re so “tame” that Burt can actually put his finger on the bottoms of one’s feet as it’s sitting on the lifeline. Sea is dead calm, wind is non-existent and sun is shining. It’s not sailing but we’re making good time in a fuel efficient way and there’s nothing to “get our attention”, so I’m a happy camper, notwithstanding that I would prefer to be sailing. At 1:50 p.m. I increased the rpm to 2200 and boat picked up .5-.7 knts. of speed. Distance from Colon is now 273 nm. Seas and wind are dead calm and it’s sunny. Fuel tank reads approx. 5/8th full. Arithmetic doesn’t favor the change. We’re gaining 20% distance and using 33% more fuel, so throttled back to 2000 and getting 5.5-5.7 nm.. I cannot believe it, but the sea is mirror calm and we have not seen any sea life whatsoever except for the occasional flying fish and a pod of dolphins that passed in the morning. It’s 9:30 p.m. and there’s still no wind and no swell. We’re just passing Cartagena, running at 2000 rpm between 5.5 and 5.8 knts. The birds came back as a pair during the day and stayed with us off and on all day. They’re not sea birds, but they’re 25 nm.. or so away from land. Very docile and not at all afraid of us.
9/23 - 6:00 a.m. Ran at 2000 rpm all night. Fuel tank shows one-half. Have traveled 620 nm.. from Curacao. Seas and winds calm. Sky clear. Air pleasantly just a bit cool. (Won’t be that way for long for sure.) At 7:00 a.m. increase rpms to 2200 and speed goes up to 6.2-.4. Ran at 2600 for an hour from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Held a steady 7.3-.5 knts. Back down to 2200 at 11:00 a.m. and holding 6.5 knts. Fuel gauge just starting to slip below a full one-half. Put the jib up with 8-10 knts. of wind at 55-60 degrees, throttled back to 2000 rpm. and still doing 6.5 knts., so picked up a knt. with the jib. Oh well, not for long. Wind shifted on our nose again, so in comes the jib. Ran the rest of the day and night until midnight when my watch shift began at 2000 rpm and was doing 6.5 knts. more or less the whole time. Fuel gauge shows 3/8ths at midnight.
9/24 - It’s 1:00 a.m. and we’ve been seeing lots of ships coming and going from the direction of Colon, with one, the Navious Antares being on our stern quite a ways back and changing course multiple times in the most curious fashion (making a full circle late in the afternoon yesterday. At present she’s on our stern and has to be watched (about 4 hrs. away) as from time to time her CPA is far to close for comfort. At about 4:30 a.m. we have some thunderstorms ahead and we change course a bit to avoid them and to give us greater separation from the ship coming up from behind. We get some rain but no close lightening. Curacao time (not adjusted for Panama time which is one hour earlier), 9:00, slightly more than one quarter tank fuel, increase rpm to 2600 for one hour. Achieve 7.2-7.4 knts. against modest head wind and light chop. Return to between 2000 rpm to 2400 rpm to enter Panama breakwater and secure boat at Shelter Bay Marina. Port Signal, the controller for the canal entrance is really, really good, and she gives us perfect instructions for entering the breakwater with multiple huge ships also entering and leaving. Safely tied up at Shelter Bay Marina by 11:00 a.m.
Had to reset plotter when got to Panama, so lost total trip miles overall and trip miles to Panama. Best guesstimate (since we’re starting again) is 6,500 nm.. overall from launch in Maine and 3,550 nm.. from Punta Gorda to Panama.
Engine hours when arrived in Panama were 1255 hrs.
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