Day 2: COLUMBIA

Around 02:00 when it started to rain and I did my quarterly hour check, it was discovered that the autopilot was not working and we were off course. I woke Jordan up and he got us back on course and tried unsuccessfully to fix the autopilot. By 03:30, I was exhausted so Jordan hand-steered for the rest of the early morning hours. At daylight, he turned on the autopilot once again and got it work for a couple of hours.

With sails up again, we hoped the autopilot would continue to operate properly. But of course, it quit soon afterwards.

At 10:00, rip-snortin' winds started to blow. Jordan put 2 reefs in the main and added the small staysail (between the mast and the bigger head sail) and we continued to motor-sail and hand-steer throughout the day and evening, but at least we were making good time.

A gray and white bird landed on deck. Too pooped to fly, he walked the entire deck searching for a safe spot to rest, back and forth he went. Jordan eventually picked him up and set him in a small cubbyhole in the cockpit where he stayed for several hours before flying away.

Aargh! It's not a parrot but it is a sea bird!

We passed the Panama/Columbia border around 22:30 this evening. So we are now entering South America, a new continent for both of us, and leaving Central America behind!

Today's position around midnight: N06°41'62" W078°19'17"