Marquesas Bound...2485 miles to go!

Lo and I left LA at 4 pm on May 18...destination Marquesas! We had been following the weather and things looked pretty good, with a nice high pressure system forming over the East Pacific (the kind of weather that gives Vancouver sunny skies). So we left with a gentle 10-kt breeze blowing down the Santa Barbara channel as we crossed to the northern tip of Santa Catalina Island. As we updated our weather via VHF, we learned of a new low pressure area forming over Nevada. Well, all the wind strength forecasts for southern California were bumped up considerably, with gales forecasted for the Point Conception area (where we first saw the oil rigs) and offshore. We decided to use the building winds to race south towards Mexico's Guadalupe Island (check it out on the internet...it's another Mecca for Great Whites) and beat the gales. The strategy seems to have worked, by and large, but we did get 20 to 30 kt winds and lumpy seas for most of the last 24 hours.

Well, the seas have subsided somewhat and the winds calmed down to 10 to 20 kts. We're still getting used to being in offshore mode, which is challenging when you're bouncing arounds all the time. Every task seems to take considerable motivation and effort to get done, even the most simple like getting up to pee or getting water (which part of you wants to not do so you can eliminate the need to pee). After 3 days we are getting our sea legs and beating the sea-induced lethargy. We've also put 342 miles behind us, leaving just under 2500 to go (which is about 12% done for you all you number crunching geeks...or is that just us). Oh my God, that still leaves most of a month to go. YIKES. Lo briefly saw an outline of Guadalupe Island on her watch at sunrise this morning...the last land until Hiva Oa.

Before we left LA, Doug Sage (proud new dad of Connor) told Lo over the phone that "this trip is going to challenge you in every way...mentally and physically." These challenges have already begun. Lo has also been reminiscing about some of Doug's other sage (sorry, couldn't help it) words: During a 1992 cycling trip Lo took with Doug, Kath and another friend to PEI, Doug would "glide" up steep hills, stop, then yell back to the struggling Lo and Kath "It's all downhill from here." Well Doug, we are just starting to feel like we're headed down a hill...surface water and air temp have risen each day (water from 15.4 C off LA to 18.3 C here), we're sailing downwind, we're getting closer to the tropics. That being said, we're also sure that there will be many more hills to climb before the journey is done.

Highlights to date: Navy aircraft carrier off San Clemente Island, Lo's first flying fish, Mystery light in Mexican waters, talking to our families via ham radio phone patch last night.