so near & yet so far! Day 21 (15/5)

Both totally disillusioned. The stories of the tradewinds, comments of never adjusting a sail & smooth sailing on a flat sea are not our experiences! We have had rough, messy seas, been thrown about & struggled to stay on course as the winds push us south & off our course. We have jibed & tacked, only to end up as south as we were before we started & feeling like we wasted 24 hours. To top it all off we have now lost the wind. After 3 days of sailing with flopping sail as the wind fails to fill them doing a disappointing average of 4.5 knots & 100 miles per day, the wind has disappeared. We've put away the sails & started the engine. Arrival at Fatu Hiva, Marquesas looks set for midday on day 23, a day later than expected.
Its not been easy & it's been an effort to stay focused…passages are definitely not my forte! I now know why planes have been invented & intend to use them! Bobby & I have seen the worst in each other. At times it's been a struggle but we've broken a few death stares & laughed as we uttered our fav comment, "It could be worse, we could be stuck on a small boat together in the middle of the ocean!"
The scenery has remained unchanged throughout the trip - sea, sea & more sea! Flying fish are the only activity seen in the waters & there have been no other boats. Routine has kept us sane & also left us going mad. We have kept our clocks on Galapagos time. The sun is rising later so I don't wake until 9am when its time to start trying to escape the sun! Bobby completes the 10am official radio check in. At 11:30am we plot our position on our chart, working out distance traveled & average speed of the last 24 hours. At noon Bobby runs a radio check in with 5 other boats. We all started this crossing within a day or so of each other so it's good to stay in contact in case anyone needs assistance. We watch an episode of Sex in the City before the battery on my lap top dies & fill in the next few hours playing cards & reading our books until its time to start the generator around 5pm. At which point we escape the noise of the generator below deck. Bobby spends the next hour or so trying to send & receive our limited emails home, reassuring family we are safe & well, whilst I sort out dinner. It's the same routine everyday & both of us are looking forward to breaking it when we arrive. We are desperate to swim in the sea & stretch our legs on land. Fatu Hiva had better have been worth all these days at sea!! ; )