Journal Entry – May 17, 2005 Pacific Puddle Jump Day 13 Just How Big is this Pacific Ocean?

Author: Scott and Pam

Today was another very overcast day. It ranged between sprinkling and very threatening all day. We had our first two squalls, but they did not dump much rain. We have been anxiously waiting for the rain showers and the opportunity to add to our water supply. We have several techniques planned and we are very curious to find out what is the most effective. We did catch a little rain and started filling the bug shower. Once the rain cleaned the sail, we found the fold from the sail being reefed made a great funnel. Your sails and other canvas can be great rain catchers. We also have a funnel with one square side bungeed to the mast. We will attach a hose and run it into the water tank or a jerry can. It will have to be raining much harder than it did today for this to reap much benefit. We were also given the mother of all rain catchers by our friend Sparky when we were in Zihautanejo. We won’t be able to try it until we are at anchor, so we will wait to share the description and hopefully our success at that time, stay tuned for the Sparky Mundo Rain Hoop scoop. Hopefully we will catch more rain next time. It is so strange how quickly life changes when you enter a squall. One minute there was four knots of wind, the next we were racing along in up to 21. Neither one lasted very long, but boy did we make tracks for a few minutes. It was not a good day for making power, the sun did not grace us with its presence all day, well not until it was time to set. It was the most spectacular sunset of the crossing so far. In fact, as an aside the sunsets have not really been very exciting, we have both been surprised. However, tonight will merit a showcase on the homepage when we have an Internet connection, it was magnificent. Towards the end it looked like there was a brilliant fire under the clouds. It was a lovely end to a very wet and dreary day. We did not fish today; we are still trying to eat the salvaged food from the refrigerator (it has now been turned off since last Friday morning). It is down to the cheese at this point. We had scrambled eggs with cheese, onions and red peppers for brunch and pizza again with the same veggies. We are both feeling cheesed out at this point. We fed the rest of the mozzarella to Nemo, he has eaten fairly well this week. An empty wine bottle with a message about our adventure is on its way to somewhere, it would be so much fun if someone finds it and makes contact with us. This is the fourth note in a bottle we have shipped over the side since cruising in Mexico. In the book “The Long Way” that we are reading now, Bernard Moitessier built two small sailboats out of materials he had on board, attached plastic bottles to their bows with notes in them and launched them in the middle of the Indian Ocean. They were found a year later, one on a Tasmanian beach and the other in New Zealand. So, who knows where our note will end up from out here in the middle of this vast space with no edges in sight. Speaking of the vastness of the Pacific, did you know:
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the world, covering 64,000,000 square miles – and this does not include another 6,000,000 square miles of adjoining seas. At the equator the Pacific Ocean measures 11,000 miles east to west and more than 9,000 miles north to south. Approximately 30,000,000 square miles lie between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn wherein lie the majority of Pacific islands (New Zealand being a notable exception). As a whole the Pacific Ocean has more islands than the rest of the oceans and seas together. On a global scale the Pacific Ocean and adjoining seas cover about 1/3 of the earth’s surface – which is more area than all the land masses of the world combined. (Earl R Hinz, “Landfalls of Paradise”) Wow!!!