Day 16
pos 09deg49S, 125deg15W
Distance to Fatu Hiva 793
Day 16 was basically a carbon copy of Day 15 but without the Marlin. Andy did a marathon laundry session today, washing all his own clothes. Himself. Insert drumroll. For the past week it has been impossible to enter Andy's cabin without the use of a gas mask, so hopefully things will improve. We also had to do a major bilge clean-up on the port side as many of the beers stowed there had corroded through and there was fermented beer gunk growing in the bilge... funny thing is i knew this would happen (as it has happened before stupid). As soon as the aluminum touches the salt water it punctures within a few days. This is a problem for many cruisers who overstock on beers in Panama, especially when you buy cheap local beers (in cheap and thin local cans). You must keep your beers dry, just like the cannoniers and their gun powder.
Josh and Indie are doing great, Indie has finally learned how to sit still and watch a dvd with Josh, almost like a well trained dog. As we all know, once you have learned to sit still in front of the tv your life is basically over. But as parents on this hell cruise we are fucken STOKED. Andy cooked up our remaining Morro Negrito Red Snapper in a coconut curry sauce with rice, it was TASTY. This will be the last time that we eat red snapper as we are now entering the Ciguatera zone. Ciguatoxin occurs usually in reef associated predators like snappers, jacks, trevally's etc. No specific antidote exists and it can be fatal. The symptoms are much like smoking a bag of weed, drinking a case of rum and dropping a sheet of acid, all at the same time. For you this may be all part of a weekends party but on shimmi we wont cope. At the very least Andy may have a slight head ache in the morning.
We are still running with the sun, only the spinnaker, we are still doing 155 mile days, at this rate we have 5 full days to go.
Bonjour
G
