Elements

After having few peaceful days, last night was really rough, and high waves continue today. Sky turned from beautiful blue yesterday, to all gray today. From all the rocking and swinging some wooden shelves inside galley broke loose and we had to improvise a solution to keep things in place. A bottle of dish soap fell down on top of the refrigerator door (the refrigerator door is horizontal, it also servers as kitchen table) and dish soap leaked into the refrigerator, so all our food containers in there are sticky.

But those are minor problems. The big question is if the wind is going to continue to blow from southwest, or is it going to switch to northwest? In order to get to Isla Mujeres we have to confront the Gulf Stream current which can be very strong around Yucatan peninsula. We used up two thirds of our fuel (we were motoring when the wind was weak, and we run our generator once a day), and we are keeping the last third for fighting the current. If the wind remains the same, we would be better off being more south so we hit the current at the last moment, right after we turn around Yucatan. But that would be a bad place to be if the wind changes.

Sailing is all about being in tune with the nature. First of course, you have to be aware of the wind and always keep in mind its direction. You also watch the waves, their direction and size, and you "read" the water by looking for patches of different color in the distance so you can detect the wind gusts coming at you.

Then you also watch the sky, and look for any sort of clouds that may mean trouble. Of course, the most significant are those clouds that are in direction from which the wind is blowing, since those are the ones that are coming your way.

At night, you watch the stars. In the dark, moonless nights like those that we are having so far on this trip you look for the patches of sky without the stars--it means they are being hidden by clouds.

That's as far as a beginner like me can go, but experienced sailors can probably read a whole bunch of other things, maybe even predict when fog, or a change in the wind direction is coming.

Then of course, you also have to be in tune with your boat. You listen for squeaks and bangs, tightening of the ropes, fluttering of the sails, and for flow of water around the hull.

None of this is hard; you just need to pay attention.