Posted by Janelle’s sister Monica as received in 160 character parts from satellite device.

After a relaxing and mostly steady first week, our pace has slowed to a crawl as we practice patience in a vast ocean of negligible wind. We had motored northwest to get ourselves out of the “no wind zone”, using almost an entire tank of diesel (of two tanks total). Making this choice meant that we would not run the engine again until absolutely necessary (i.e. once we reach “The Pacific High”) and in the meantime would sail while we could and drift while we couldn’t. Of this past week, we’ve had about four full days of simply drifting.

In the meantime, we’ve continued to make a valiant effort at staying cool, with frequent bucketfuls of saltwater poured over ourselves in the cockpit. We’ve been visited by an enormous whale—our guess is either blue or grey whale just by sheer size—who came to make a loop around our boat before turning back to his course one afternoon. We’ve become a shady respite for a variety of small fish and a small sea turtle, as well as a floating home for a confused black sea bird and one finch-like bird (RIP little finch, May 9, 2019).

The other day, with the glassy and endlessly deep (~13,000 feet) water all around us, we were just about to set up the swim ladder to dive in when, coming up toward us from about 20 feet away were three sharks. From our vantage they appeared to be about 4-5’ long and of course solid grey. Laughing in disbelief, fear, and gratitude, we agreed that we wouldn’t swim. Then along back came the three sharks, with two more friends. Our decision was confirmed without hesitation.

Above: dolphins playing alongside the boat (apologies for the rotation issue)

We have our sights set on a mid-June arrival to Seattle, and we’re trying not spend too much time recalculating our arrival should this slog of a pace continue. We are maintaining a hopeful outlook that the winds will soon enough be in our favor and we’ll be sailing along to our hearts content.