It is early Thursday morning, April 15 and Oso is starting to smell the barn. She may also be startig to smell like a barn, but that's a different issue.
We are down to 370 nm miles and expect to arrive in Hiva Oa early on Saturday morning (around noon CDT). Since crossing the equator, the wind and seas have been much more "active". The long gentle swells, light winds, and wide open doors and hatches of our early days have been replaced with winds of 15-20 kts, seas that are much closer toether and a bit more lively, and the need to keep dors and hatches closed to keep the salt spray out. Luckily, we have the luxury of A/C and can keep our staterooms comfortable. The occasional loud slap of bigger waves against the side of the hull frequently interrupts our sleep and the ride is a little rougher, but overall, the seas are being good to us.
It has been over 14 days since we left Puerto Vallarta and we have seen very little other than our buddy boat "Mystery Ship". There are always flying fish popping up and most mornings we find a couple that missed their landings and ended up on our decks, but other than that, we have only seen 3 ships in the distance or on radar. We have yet to sight another cruiser and we have also seen no floating garbage besides one stray fish net float and an old rubber boat fender. Yesterday was a beautiful day with clear skys, brilliant blue ocean, and scattered white caps. The water is typically 12,000 - 14,000 feet deep and nothing but blue upon blue as far as you can see in all directions. We are continually humbled by how small we are and how immense and powerful the ocean can be.
E
