It’s Monday morning and we have been motoring for over 24 hours. After all the problems with the engine cooling system, I am so pleased that we were able to find someone in St Thomas to replace the leaky gaskets and confirm that the water pump is in good shape.
Having watched the tech remove and replace the pump makes me realize just how difficult it would have been to do at sea. I generally worry about breakage when I am offshore, hundreds of miles from anything and the idea of making the repair while underway is too much for me to even think about.
I knew that this was going to be a slow trip with lots of motoring but had hoped that by the time we left the forecast was going to be for more wind. However, with all the strong fronts that have been rolling off the US East Coast, the trade winds to the south have been suppressed so motoring it is.
As I write this post we fully expect to have another 24-36 hours before winds from the NE begin to fill in. And FILL IN they will with steady winds in the 20s and gusts to near 30 are expected. And, to ensure that things will be plenty sporty, the wind will be forward of the beam so we will be pounding into seas.
The big issue for us is what conditions will be like when we reach the Gulf Stream, currently about 650 miles from us. And given our estimated speed, I expect that we will reach the Stream some time on Friday.
Timing our entrance into the Stream is critical as when there are strong winds from the NE or E conditions will be quite nasty and dangerous.
Chris Parker, our weather router, says that the forecast five days out is still quite uncertain so it’s hard to say when conditions will begin to settle down and make it reasonable to cross the GS but he is currently estimating that we will have reasonable conditions by sometime on Friday.
For now, it’s fingers crossed. For now, we will continue to motor along.
I guess I will close with some shots of today’s sunrise. As I have mentioned, my favorite time of day is dawn and to be on watch as the eastern horizon begins to glow is a magical time.
It began with a blue/purple glow in the east.
Getting brighter and brighter as the sun began to peek from behind the low clouds showing off the lacey clouds above. 
The sun, nearly above the horizon, a testament to the majesty of nature. 
A beautiful day has dawned. 
Well, to be clear, it’s a beautiful day with no wind.
So glad that Pandora has an engine. I want to add “that works” but don’t want to Jinx it.
So far, so good. Fingers crossed and it’s a good thing that I am a member of the “cup is half full” club.
Now I can worry about the Gulf Stream…