Day 9

Yesterday we had another great spinnaker run. The sea has smoothed out to the point that the windvane can steer the boat by itself even as we surf along at over 8 knots. This is some of the most enjoyable sailing I've ever had, the boat doing what it does best, the sea giving us a smooth ride, the sky as clean and unpolluted as I've ever seen it, and no need to worry about rocks or boat traffic. And I'm happy to report that we have seen very little trash out here, perhaps 3 plastic containers in all.
We had a pod of dolphins swimming along with us in the afternoon, a welcome reminder that we are not alone on this big ocean. We also caught our first fish since the marlin strike back on day 3. Two Mexican bonito, which were small enough that we released them back to their saltwater home. Still waiting to see an albatross!
Today is April Fool's Day. The joke on us is that the wind has died, when we are supposed to be in the NE trades! Vicki and I have the graveyard watches, she 1-4 AM, and me following from 4-7 AM. Last night I awoke during Vicki's watch at 2AM because of the sails slatting and the boat wallowing along at less than 2 kts. When I came on watch what little wind there was seemed to be veering to the E, taking us a bit N of W, so we jibed the boat over where we could make some southing. When Carol came on watch at 7, we poled out the genoa and now we're making between 3 and 4 knots. Dennis is sharpening his fillet knife in anticipation of more fish, hopefully big enough to eat!
Our position this morning is 14 deg 23 min N, 121 deg 34 min W. We're over 1000 miles from mainland Mexico, and still more than 1700 miles from the Marquesas.