November 5

The laundry was ready the next morning at 0830, and we were off. Today was the sort of day to give you some idea of how really arduous our existence in this cruising mode normally is. We embarked at a civilized 0920, motorsailed in gentle swells until 1130, then hoisted the main and head sails for the remainder of the day’s passage. While Alphy the autopilot steered, we lunched on a spinach salad, with pears, pine nuts, dried blueberries, and feta cheese, washed down with fresh limonada (limeade). We saw not another boat on this Sunday at the end of a four-day holiday—November 1-2, All Saints’ and All Souls’ days and November 4, Manta Independence Day. The fish were getting a holiday too! At 1630 we dropped anchors, both stern and bow, behind the reef off Punta Pasado. We immediately also set out flopper stopper.

In the curve of the small bay was a small fish camp of tarps and tents, but we saw only one man, apparently clothed for diving, paddle out to the reef at dark, where we saw his small, bobbing light whenever we were up during the night. Two adults and two children at the farmhouse a few hundred yards from the camp were busy around the stable with the evening chores.