1400 hours. We’ve had ideal conditions for passaging up the Baja Peninsula – light winds and calm seas. According to the Active Route Window in MaxSea we’re just 378 miles from San Diego.

Water temperature is a chilly 59F. If we didn’t know better we’d think something was wrong with the sensor – but this is the same one which was reporting 86F a few days ago – and the layers of clothing on our bodies and blankets on the bunk reinforce the low temperature readings. Haven’t seen any icebergs yet, but with the next Ice Age just around the corner they are probably closer than politically correct thinking would indicate…

Breeze is just starting to blow from the NW, about 10 knots, with a bit of a lumpy sea indicating more wind in the vicinity. This is probably a sea breeze reinforcement of the gradient wind – which means it will die off by mid-evening. We’ve checked both chopper models and they are in total disagreement with one another. The AVN model shows offshore winds the next few days. However the Oceanic Exp. indicates what we currently have – and the rising barometer is a harbinger that the Pacific High is trying to reestablish itself. That’s the nice thing about having several sources of weather – find the model which is working with the current conditions and go with it (that’s what the professionals do as well).

Through it all BEOWULF is chugging along at 11+ knots through the water – just over ten over the bottom. This is not the most economical speed – we’d get a third better mileage if we slowed down to 10 knots through the water – but we want to get as many miles under the keel as possible while conditions are easy. We can always slow down later if required.

To celebrate almost being there is a Pear Meringue cake a-baking in the ship’s galley.