I wake up to a very hungry crew.  I slip on my pants to begin making breakfast.  Stop for a second there – I said slip on.  I did not unbutton my pants to put them on, I just pulled them up and they slide right on!  I immediately think of that  Internet ad “Lose belly weight with one weird, old trick!”  And I suddenly realize what that one weird, old trick is: take a 3-month sailing voyage.  Voila!

I make breakfast (pancakes) in rolly conditions.  The winds are light but we are perpendicular to a swell which makes us roll side to side.  We take showers.  We do more of the same as the day before.  It looks like, weather permitting, we will be in Panama in a day and a half.

Weather permitting…

All day the weather is overcast with intermittent showers.  We close the portholes when it rains, open them up again moments afterwards to let a breeze through in the stifling heat.  Close, open. Close, open.

As we round “Punta Mala” (Bad Point) to come up into the Bay of Panama, we begin to encounter a very stiff counter-current.  2 knots.  That puts a huge dent in our progress. It’s the difference between arriving the next day or adding another 24 hours on to the trip.  We have wind but it’s at an unfavorable angle so we can’t make progress to our waypoint.  So close and yet so far!  We decide to take one hour watches and both sleep in the cockpit.

We are heeling again – so not my favorite thing to do.

While on watch I look around. It’s completely overcast but there is a full moon, which casts a dim light over all the clouds making them appear light gray.  The sea is a darker shade of gray.  I am surrounded on all sides by shades of gray, and not the kind from that best-selling book.  I feel like I am in a really depressing snow globe.  Merry Christmas, Panama!

While on watch I begin to think about all the foods I miss.  Fresh spinach.  Good parmesean cheese. A really good bagel with whipped cream cheese topped with tomato, cucumber and avocado.  Sharp cheddar.  Lettuce.  Strawberries.   My stomach rumbles.  Or was that thunder?  I turn my attention back to being on watch.

The whole “one hour on, one hour off” thing quickly becomes difficult due to the rain coming into the cockpit.  The wind keeps shifting, we still have a counter current and now the wind waves are picking up, making for an uncomfortable ride.  Gap Wind Hell..