March 8

CONDITIONS: Continued cooler, big rainstorm overnight, winds E 15-16kts today. Clear skies. Harbor is open to SE-S and is a bit rolly, especially when the wind blows the boat perpendicular to the prevailing SE swells. Putting out a stern anchor to hold us pointed into the waves would cause a problem at night when the wind swings 180 degrees, so we just roll.

MECHANICALS: None!

More info and photos below the fold:

CREW CONDITION: Mike and Deb left this morning for their week-long tour aboard a luxury boat to explore the Galapagos. It's the main attraction here as you can't go to an island without a guide and the tour boats take you to multiple islands and have professionally licensed Ecuadorian guides aboard to explain what you're seeing along the way. Boats also stop at snorkeling spots so you can swim with fish, sea lions and turtles. Jan and I will take a shorter tour next Friday when Mike and Deb return.

TECHNICAL ASIDE: Batteries and Charging
In the mean time we're on boat watch aboard (and ashore) to keep an eye on the boat and run the generator every day or so to keep the batteries charged. The primary power consumption now is the refrigerator and freezer which draw a pretty steady 6-7 amps. Under sail with all the radios, GPS, autopilot, etc. running we drain about 10-12 amps. The battery bank has close to 500 Amp hours and can be drained to about 50% of capacity before it needs to be recharged. Since it's slow to charge the batteries from 90% to 100% ("topping off" is at a slower rate of charge), we effectively can use about 40% of the battery capacity, or 200 Amp hours. That's about 24 hours at 7-8 Amps so we charge once a day on average.

The generator is very quiet and only consumes half a gallon of diesel per hour. It pumps about 70-80 amps into the batteries so needs to be run for about 2.5 hours every day to keep the batteries charged. Unless we're running the engine while under way, then the engine's alternator charges the batteries and the generator isn't required.

This process is almost identical to what we did aboard our Mystique, except all the numbers can be cut in half or more. So we're comfortable running Quester while Mike and Deb are gone.

EXCITEMENT: Jan and I will be alone for most of this week with Mike & Deb gone. Joe's girlfriend Jenny is flying in from the States tomorrow and they're staying at a nice hotel on the beach in Porto Aroya. We're aboard alone today, mostly resting and reading and listening to our playlists on the iPad and iPhone. Mike doesn't like to listen to anything but classical music so we don't use the terrific stereo system while he's aboard.

COMMENTS: Life is Good!