We're keeping two log books, one for the hourly positions we take off the GPS, another for the more important events that we don't want to get lost in the mess of lat/long. Here's the 'important' stuff for the last couple days:
1445: AIS alarm for NW bound ship, range 8 nm*
1655: Fish boat off port bow; 1715 had to toll
up the jib to let him go by; all of their
crew lined up on the rail to wave to us
0515: John got up to furl jib, very bouncy, 95%
overcast morning; still seeing occasional
petrels and shearwater; 1415 masked booby
1200: noon position, distance made good, water
temp 74.3 degrees F
1830: Fishing boat to starboard, 8 miles
2200: Ziggy ate a flying fish
2355: Linda threw a flying fish back so Ziggy
wouldn't eat it
2440: furled jib; later John let some back out
0630: dropped staysail because it was blanketing
jib; let out some more jib
1030: Caught a 20 lb Dorado (mahi-mahi), found old
squid on deck when cleaning fish.
1200: noon position, distance made good, water
temp 75.2 degrees F
That's about it, our tomatoes are starting to go off after less then a week. We'll be eating them madly for the next few days to try to stay ahead of the rot. Oh and lots of fish too.
John and Linda
*AIS is an automated system that big ships use to announce their location. We have a receiver, I installed it last year in Ecuador, and it sets off an alarm if anything gets closer then 8 nm. The display is like a radar and shows all the ships that the device can receive. Along with the ship's position, the ship also broadcasts it's name so if you think you might be on a collision course you can call the ship on the radio and ask him if he wouldn't mind turning. We've only had to do this once. In fact the ship was already turning when we called, I don't think it was because of us, it was along the Ecuadorian coast and I think he had just arrived at a waypoint and was changing course to go to the next waypoint. In any case he answered our call and I thanked him.
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?2,29,S,95,41,W,Day%203,