Anila Day 6 Update: Fastest Day So Far

Summary: More good sailing and limited rain last night was a nice change. Kyra and Satin made lemon cupcakes for a treat.
Position: 08 12.25 S 102 49.04 W at 13:00 CST
COG: 257 degrees m
Distance : 185 nm (24 hr), 964 nm total
Average Speed 7.7 kts (24 hr)
Distance to go to Hiva Oa: 2,140 nm
The sea calmed down yesterday with similar 12-17 kts winds allowing for a faster day. Today the winds are similar but the swells are bigger and more closely spaced. We’ve had good luck reporting into the Pacific Seafarers net at 0300 UTC on 14300 USB, but the last two nights there was a lot more interference. We’ve also tried to listen in to the French Polynesia Magellan net and Pacific Puddle Jumpers net and could only hear bits and pieces. Maybe this will get better as we get closer to French Polynesia.
We have an Icom 802 single sideband (SSB) radio onboard which can receive and broadcast from 1.6 to 30 MHz on marine and ham radio frequencies. It allows us to talk with other boats, listen to radio broadcasts, receive weather maps, and do email. However, we use an Iridium Go! satellite communicator as our primary email and position reporting device. Our blog posts get sent via email while at sea, which is why you aren’t getting the usual array of fun photos. On a good day, the Iridium is about as fast as an old 2400 baud modem. (The SSB typically even slower for data transfers). To put this in perspective it would take over an hour to send just one photo taken on a typical smart phone. This really makes us appreciate the fast Internet we’ve gotten so used to at home.
Otherwise, all is well onboard. We’re doing a lot of reading, movie watching, and sleeping. The Kiwix offline Wikipedia has been great for reading up on our destination islands. We’re still about 600 nm from the halfway point. The girls are planning on baking chocolate chip cookies to celebrate. We were going to try baking bread yesterday, but we couldn’t find the yeast we thought we brought. It’s now on the top of our list to locate when we get to the Marquesas (ok, maybe right after fresh bread and croissants).
Wildlife Sightings: The usual fish and squid on deck. No dolphins yet…