april 5 update from Orca III

Hey everyone!!
still sailing along here at 6 knots wing on wing - genoa on the port using the boom as a pole and the staysail on the starboard with the pole. works great!! have pictures to post later. Yesterday we had some big fish just tear out lure right off, kinda glad he did cause he must have been big. This was the lure that caught us that 6.5 foot marlin. made for some excitement.

thought you'd like to hear what a typical day at sea aboard Orca III is. As we use the full 24 hours in a day a starting point is hard so I will start with Don's weather report on 8122 at 7:15am local time or our time 1415 utc. on for around 1/2 hr. then we start the generator if it wasn't already going.... our biggest challenge is keeping the batteries charged!! hope on the computer as we can only use it when the generator is running cause the invertor is acting up ( will replace with our original
one once we hit the Marquesas) Check in with our buddies Robert and Rose of Tillicum at 1545 utc and then at 1600 uct its is check in with the Pacific Puddles Jumpers net on 6224 . throughout the day and evening we have been on the VHF with Dorothy Marie ( our travelling buddies) checking each others speed and position and course and anything else just for fun.
the last watchers generally go down for a sleep, (usually Steve and Kyle but today its me and Maya) I get my buckets of fresh water and start to desalt the windows and deck and oil some of the stainless. Breakfast is everyone for them self, the odd time I make French Toast. - or something.....

then its reading for the kids and also they are currently doing the travel workbooks ( thanks Andrea and Auntie Bon) they are loving them. boat projects for Steve and myself - Steve is polishing all the stainess work he did with a wax that should keep it shining. I bake and help with whatever, taking reading breaks for Steve and me also, the kids and Steve are back reading the Harry Potter again. I am reading To kill a Mockingbird. ( just maybe Kyle will after me.. one can only hope!) adjust the
sails once and while, the kids have been going on the VHF to play hangman and do math with Sally on Dorothy Marie. before you know it its 2330 utc and time to check in with Blue Water CRuising net on 14.347 . Every couple of days the kids have a check in with fellow cruiser kid Jayred of Tin soldier at 0055 utc ojn 14.347 and then our final check in for the day is back to Pacific Puddle Jumpers at 0200utc on 6224. somewhere in there Steve and I squish in a game of crib. Lunch and dinner and
snacking of course are in there. and Kyle constantly is checking our lines for fish. He is our true fisherman!!! Generator is run again, and every 2-3 days we run the big engine to make water and help with the batteries. We are currently double flushing the water as the taste is not so good. first we make water from the salt water then we flush the freshwater out of the tanks through the watermaker and fill all water bottles, bags whatever for drinking. this tastes good!! will be cleaning that once
we hit land also.
Then we settle into our watch routine with the fist ones on, and the others sleeping and we switch every 4 hours. We keep a record of our position , course barometer wind speed, boat speed in our pilot log. check the radar, yack with Dorothy Marie, look out for other ships ( haven't seen any in about 5 days) then read, doze ( watch alarm goes of every 15 minutes) stare at the stars.

the days go by so fast !! Haven't been bored yet

I do miss going out for lunch or dinner once in a while. don't think I have cooked so much..... 3x a day 7 days a week ( so far thats 14 days straight) one of the first things we are doing when we hit land is going out to eat!!!! Steve and the kids do help once in a while with the food stuff.

Dionne, Steve Kyle, Maya Emma

ps lat 11*51068'N 121*05.52'W - its warm at night and we are doing our watches in shorts and t-shirts ( steve no shirt) even in the middle of the night. how cool is that?!