Day 3 on the trip from St Maarten to Panama and all is well on Concerto. We have motored/motor sailed almost 485nm in generally flat seas and 10knots of wind from behind, averaging around 8.7knots over the ground. The weather has been very very hot though with temperatures inside Concerto getting up to 38degrees Celsius
Wildlife has been fantastic with a couple of pilot whales passing within 6 feet of the yacht on the first day, Some Atlantic spotted dolphins playing at the bow, and a school of around 18 common dolphins swimming along side today.

Fishing: Disaster struck when we lost our best lure, the line snapped as two of us tried to reel in a very heavy fish. The same instant it snapped we saw a huge marlin type fish jump high out of the water. Quite glad we didn’t have to reel him in as not sure what we would have done with him if we managed to get him along side! As a consolation we caught a small yellow fin last night and a good sized Wahoo this morning. So sushi and tuna salad for lunch and grilled Wahoo for dinner, helps keep crew food costs down, and moral up!

Concerto is behaving quite well, with only a few minor problems. Although last night the exit pipe for the raw water pump blew off pumping the engine room full of water. First I heard was engine over heat alarm going off simultaneously with the engine room bilge alarm. It was a little scary until I found the problem. All seems fine now though.

ETA in Cristobel is looking like 20:00on Friday if all stays the same.

Crew all well and happy. (and well fed)