Pouring over charts!

I was planning on sailing to Mexico to shorten the distance between Panama and Hawaii however after close scrutiny it doesn’t seem like such a good idea. At this time of the year crossing the gulf of Tehuantepec can be quite an undertaking. If you have this month’s Latitudes & Attitudes you can read about the crew of Eclipse’s rescue from the Tehuantepec. The Eclipse was anchored here in the La Playeta anchorage after the incident. It really looked like it took a hell of a beating. Papagayo is another local wind event to be dealt with. Papagayos are gale force winds that blow for days at a time from Costa Rica to Mexico. And even without Papagayos or the Tehuantepec I’m still looking at head winds for the entire trip. It seems like much of the trip would be a motor boat ride or a beat, either way, not very appealing. Many people going from Panama to destinations in North America visit Hawaii first. Favorable winds and currents can be expected from Panama to Hawaii. Jimmy Cornell’s book suggests sailing to the Galapagos first to avoid the areas of calms that can be expected well off of the Central American coast. If one doesn’t stop in the Galapagos this trip is roughly 5300 miles and would take me around a month and a half. I may have another option. A few people have offered to make monthly donations to keep Project BlueSphere headed for New Zealand via French Polynesia. If this comes together I might just pull off the Pacific crossing after all. Either way I’m still looking at visiting the Galapagos so that is where I’m headed. I am so ready to leave Panama I can’t see straight. The Galapagos are known to be some of the best diving in the world and might be worth checking out. If anyone is interested in coming for a visit please let me know. I have been working closely with Volvo as I have been going through my engine and I really have come to the bottom of my motor issues. I have a water blockage behind the cylinder sleeve. This is a direct result of my deteriorating manifold. Rust has been building up in the block. I am waiting on some gaskets that should take about a week to get here. Once I have them I’ll be taking off the aft head and cylinder block, tapping out the sleeve, and cleaning the water passages. I need to buy a ring compressor but once I have the right gaskets and tools I should be able to knock the job out in about 4 hours. I hate raw water cooled motors! I’ve been running the engine like this for some time and it’s been working well it just gets pretty hot. It would probably continue to run but I will feel a hell of a lot better getting it taken care of now. After that I’m off like a prom dress. I may have a charter opportunity which may postpone my departure by another week or so but that’s it. I can’t wait to write my logs from sea. My spirit has grown stagnant over the past year and I am really excited to get going again. Latitudes & good Attitudes right? There is a silver lining to every dark cloud! Peace, Love and Coconuts everyone. – Alex