It's about that time.

Well, we seem to have a tendency toward tardiness. Here we are, really really close to ready to go, but still pushing back our departure day by day. We were going to leave on Tuesday, but the weather was better for Wednesday. Then on Wednesday we were finishing our last projects and it was quite busy- the weather was just as good for a Thursday push, so we put it off a day. Now, here we are on Thursday. I'm writing this at Huanacaxtle Cafe in La Cruz. We just ordered our second round of beers.

The list of preparations has largely been semantic, but these things take time in Mexico. Especially for such prolific beer drinkers as ourselves. We've had to get temporary overseas medical evacuation insurance so that we can be admitted to French Polynesia (this is a new rule this year- we used the Diver's Alert Network, which provides the necessary coverage for the $35/year membership fee). We also decided to throw down a bit of cash to have our immigration taken care of for us in FP. This means we won't have to provide an $1800 per person repatriation bond (the bond is recoverable, but only at certain islands), our paperwork is taken care of for us when we arrive (we don't speak French, so this is a matter of convenience) and we have a permit for duty free fuel in FP. The company we're using will also take care of the paperwork for our crew change in Tahiti. But, it has meant dealing with logistical considerations over the computer, and internet connections here are finicky and slow.

Trying to get something done at the marina restaurant. It's tough
with bad internet and ceviche and beers only 15 pesos each.

We finished our final projects yesterday: fixed the lazarettes, re-wired the stern light, added a topping lift, etc. We managed to buy a liferaft, so we wrapped our dinghy up and now have an actual cabin top to enjoy. We also got a ton of provisions: a hundred or so eggs, lots of beans, flour, and other dry provisions. Plenty of vegetables. Lots of canned goods. And, of course, beer. Six cases to be exact. Five of them are on the cockpit floor... but it's a small price to pay.

Provisions.

Definitely necessary.

Now we will be pushing off as soon as possible, but it's hard to say whether that's Thursday 4/12 or Friday 4/13. The weather is as good as it has been this year, which is nice vindication for our slowness- we were getting some grief from friends in La Paz about our general lateness, but it turns out to have been a late year anyway, so those who left earlier have had very slow passages. Now we're looking at a fairly strong (1026 mb) high pressure system sitting near Hawaii, which is an indicator that the summer trade winds should be getting stronger to the South (the high pressure system there pulls the sub-tropical jetstream North, taking the variable pressure systems that confuse the tradewinds with it). A cold front is passing through northern Baja as well, which helps create down-flow, providing a good connection from where we are to the trades. The ITCZ is relatively narrow still and north of the equator (typically it has widened more by this time of year and moved South, but we're lucky that it has remained more March-like this year). Below are some of the NOAA weather images that we use for route planning and passage tactics; they are all obtainable on the internet at: http://weather.noaa.gov/fax/marine.shtml. We are currently using charts broadcast from the Hawaii station. All of these charts are also available on high frequency radio, which is how we get them at sea. Just in case there's any interest on how we pick weather windows.

24 Hour Surface Pressure Forecast: Central Pacific.

24 Hour Wind/Wave Forecast, SE Pacific. The little flag-looking things show wind direction and speed.
Each full bar they have coming off the back counts for 10 kts breeze, each half bar for 5 kts. The numbers are wave height in feet.

24 Hour Surface Pressure Forecast, Southeast Pacific. We are currently just southwest of the "L",
a low pressure system that has come down from northern Baja.

48 Hour surface pressure forecast for SE Pacific. Note the cold front (line with triangles) in norther Baja,
the 1028 mb high pressure system in the top left, and the northerly, broken ITCZ near the equator-
all good things for Ardea.

48 hour wind/wave forecast SE Pacific.

It takes a while to get used to these images and their interpretation, but I assure you, we are in good shape. The great circle course to Hiva Oa, Marquesas is 2722 nm. We'll end up sailing a bit more than that, since we'll route more to the West at first to clear the Baja Penninsula for more favorable wind and swell. Then, around 130 deg. W, we'll make a course perpendicular to the ITCZ to try to jump from the North Pacific trades to the South Pacific trades as quickly as possible. The South Pacific trades are still pretty weak (see above image), but they'll hopefully strengthen by the time we get there. We expect to take thirty days or so to make the crossing, though if we can manage to hit the weather well, we may come in as quick as 25 days. For some perspective on that- our best day of sailing so far (i.e., 24 hours) has been 165 nm. Our worst has been down in the realm of 60 nm.

Some way or another (i.e., through the SSB radio nets we're using or by calling my Dad on the sat phone and having him submit), we'll provide position updates to YOTREPS, so our position should be viewable on www.shiptrak.org. My HAM callsign is KJ6TNX, but I will post a link on the blog so that the callsign is automatically entered (http://shiptrak.org/?callsign=KJ6TNX).

Anyway, we're all pretty excited with a healthy dose of nerves as well. I've never been more confident in Ardea. She's held up incredibly well so far and I suspect she'll be rather indifferent to the passage at large. So, without further adieu, we bid farewell to North America. Mexico has been better than good to us and we'll miss it for sure. But exploring about Oceania sounds pretty great too.

So, to all our family and friends, we send all of our love and best wishes. We are deeply grateful for the support we've had. Know that we will take good care and stay safe and not lay it over and catch hella monsters.

Love,

Connor

Listo.