Hawaii Passage Day 10: Half Way and a Message in a Bottle

Tuesday April 14, 2020

Estelle has crossed the 1/2 way mark to Hawaii! I called Hilo Harbor (Radio Bay) this morning and they will expect Estelle’s arrival around April 24-26. Currently the 14 day quarantine is in effect until April 30th and they will be quarantined on the boat when they arrive. We’ve got fingers crossed that the quarantine will be lifted by the 30th to allow for some Hawaiian R&R and a crew change before the next leg back to the Pacific Northwest.

Today the Home Station Manager received reports from both El Capitán and the Galley Wench.

Log del Capitán

Today has been fun and fairly relaxing.  We are still heading about 250d Magnetic, toward the islands.  Wind is in the high-teens / low-twenties with 1-3 meter waves; reefs in both main and genoa.  Sun is out, sea is brilliant dark blue, air temp is nice and warm.  We made nearly 150 miles from noon-to-noon yesterday, which is good.  18d 14’N 127d 24’W.  

Gregg and I took advantage of sunshine to do some laundry on the afterdeck. Two buckets of fresh water — soap and rinse — and drying on the high lifelines.  Seems to work, so far. 

Wendy used up the last of yesterday’s tuna in a salad for lunch, during which we promptly caught two more! Smaller yellow-tails this time.  They are so beautiful when they come out of the water.  We also have fresh bread for our tea later this afternoon, using SV Tomten’s recipe.  

Very peaceful.  

The Galley Wench Report

Hello from the crew of ESTELLE! Day 10. The clouds are trying to leave us and I know we will miss the shade and coolness they have provided. Don’t get me wrong we are willing to take one for the team, slather on sunscreen and hang out in the sun’s beautiful rays. 

Today we wrote a note. We placed it, a dollar bill, a peso, and Estelle’s calling card in a bottle and tossed it overboard at what we are calling our 1/2 way spot. See action photos! It will be cool if it gets found on a distant shore and contact with us is made. Who knows?

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It’s laundry day again. The plan was to clean up yesterday. We became too distracted by our fish, however, and decided laundry was just too much to handle. Need to pace ourselves.

Will try to bake bread today. Fingers crossed.
Still making way at 7-8 knots with variable winds. Seas a bit bigger today and as Rob says “all of the motion with none of the fun!” Not really true but it sounds funny. 

We send positive thoughts and love to all of you. Cheers from the crew on ESTELLE