June 12, 2007 - Pacific Crossing, Day 10

The temperature of the equatorial waters around the Galapagos was in the lower 70s. For the first few days of our crossing, before we got below 5 degrees south, the water temperature remained in the 70's as we rode the cold water currents west. As we got farther south our weather improved - we went from grey, cloudy days and damp night watches to bright, sunny days and a dry comfortable cockpit through the night. Once we got below 5 degrees south, and out of the currents surrounding Darwin's islands, the water temperature shot up to the high 80's, making us feel like we had arrived back in the tropics. Which was all well and good, until the wind died. As Sten said yesterday, "Bring on the sweat." Our last noon-to-noon mileage was our lowest of the trip - 127 miles, down from a string of days where our average mileage was in the 160's and 170's. We have several more of these low mileage days to look forward to before we get out of this wind hole.

Whether it was triggered by the heat or the prospect of another two weeks of flopping about out here, I started craving ice cream today. After a while of contemplating which flavor I would like most, I asked Sten for an ice cream maker as an anniversary present. After a debate about whether we could make ice cream out of UHT milk, I tabled the request until we could settle the point [Hey John D - any interest in whipping up a test batch of long-life milk ice cream?].