Out of Manta

Although I still believe that this was a necessary stop, let alone the
fact that we had to stop somewhere in Ecuador to allow David to go home,
we are quite pleased to be out of that place. The two things that were
most unpleasant, were the constant swell which, combined with the tide,
made the boat move around a lot and actually almost destroyed the
windvane, and the black dust which would cover the boat in less than
half a day after we had washed it thoroughly.
The time it took and the cost of the entry formalities are not uncommon
or unexpected in this kind of country. The total cost for the clearance
in and out was 280 dollars, but the cost of the marina, including the
use of their facilities and the dockage was only 100 dollars. So all in
all, not bad from that view point.
Anyway, we left Saturday morning at 6:30 after a night of loud music at
the Yacht Club, with a party going on all night. The weather was in a
somber mood, overcast, cold (70 degrees), but little wind to work with.
It only took us 2 hours of motoring to turn the corner and since then,
we are sailing with conditions that are constantly improving.
Today, Sunday noon, we have the wind on the beam, we are doing 7 knots
over the ground and we were able shortly to see a little piece of blue
sky. Not bad.
Yesterday late in the afternoon we caught a small fish, probably not
more than a pound, but since we did not know what it was, we threw it
back in the ocean.
At noon today, we had 3358 nautical miles to go to get to Fatu Hiva, our
first destination in the Marquesas. If the conditions remain the same,
as in all probabilities it will, we might get there in a little over 23
days, therefore around August 18.