Last night we had some rough waters all night long. Today it has been cloudy and overcast with about 15 knot winds at our backs. The waves are around 15-20 feet and we are constantly up and down. We have been travelling at about 6-8 knots and moving right along. We are about 500 miles out of San Francisco and making a "banana" turn for the islands. We expect that in about 3 days we will be in calm seas the remainder of the way to Hawaii.
Having the autopilot working is wonderful. It is a lot more accurate than an actual person. We have seen a couple of cargo ships about 15 miles away, that we have spotted on our radar.
Spirits were high today as we were able to catch some fish. We had a flying fish "fly" on deck today! It surprised us all and we were able to try and use it as bait to fish. This was unsuccessful. Garrett then used a squid as bait, and as he let it out into the water, we were able to see the line behind us in the swells. The waves are clear, and so we watched as a 2.5 foot long tuna grabbed hold. It took about 30 minutes to reel and wrestle it in. Rick was pulling it in when he accidentally pulled on the cord to his life vest. It immediately blew up full of air between the life lines of the boat. It was quite a sight!
After we pulled the 35 lb blue fin tuna onto deck, we started to gut him and we all took fresh bites right there. We threw the "guts" back to sea and as we did, we spotted a shark fin immediately scavenging the remains of the tuna.
Brooke and Tim made some sushi, and Brian fried up some taco shells. Fresh fish tacos for dinner tonight! Everyone is excited about it!
Brian is feeling almost 100% better, as is Steve.
We have found some new nicknames for everyone on board as we have learned a little more about each other. Rick is "Big Swiss", as in a Swiss army knife. He is the jack of all trades and he can do everything and anything! Tim is a close second as "lil Swiss". He spends most of the time at the helm and knows almost everything and anything! Brooke is "CNO" or the Chief navigational officer. She got this name as we have learned that she reads every manual and does it by the book (vs Rick who does the opposite). Brian is "The stow Away" and he plans to just make it to Hawaii stowed away in his room. As he gets better, hopefully this will change! Garrett is "The catch" as he is all over the fishing and catching fish on the boat. Garrett is steady, always there for help and keen to gain more experience. He is good at the helm. Always happy and sharing stories from the past and loves to talk about his wife Marianne and how tough this would have been for her. Steve is still "Captain", and he will remain with the name!
When the sails are up, there are only so many places that you can go. You can go down below in your cabin, be up top on the bench at the aft of the boat, or be in the salon watching Brooke and Rick do P90X Ab ripper X!
We have learned to have a lot more respect of the majesty of the seas. We have learned of its power and the danger of it all. It has caused us to ponder upon the early explorers, who went about discovering the seas without modern GPS and instruments.
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