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Location: Water Word - 2 days from Panama Lat: 12-47N Lon: 74-54W

I am sitting in the cockpit of a Catana 431 catamaran called "Thanks Larry" traveling at 8 knots on a heading of 255 Magnetic. In front of me and behind the boat, blue water stretches out as far as I can see. If I stand up and look over the bow of the boat I see blue water, and to each side I see blue water. Blue water is everywhere. The last light of Puerto Rico fell out of sight last night at 11:15. You could still see an eerie glow cast upon the sky from the lights of some unidentified city, but the island was hidden behind the curve of the earth. The cell phone no longer registered a signal. We were traveling away from dry land and into Water World

We left the dock at Marina Puerto del Rey - Fajadro, Puerto Rico on Monday 12:35pm after topping up with fuel and water. As usual leaving the dock was the hardest part of trip so far. Though it was pretty easy for K2 and I as Dean and Chris have done most the real work of shopping and packing the food away. We more or less shown up, did a few boat chores and sailed in the Heineken Cup. Now we are standing watches, reading, eating and sleeping.

Since this our first long distance passage on a catamaran it has become a study in contrast and differences. The most obvious difference, other then the amount of living space is the movement of the vessel. While a monohull has a wider range of motion a catamaran has a shorter faster movement on the water. If sailing a monohull is like living in washing machine, then a multi-hull is like living on an earthquake. The boat rocks back and forth only 5 degrees or so, but it also slides left and right. And the front and back ends don't always slide in the same direction. As a wave passes diagonally under the vessel it first pushes the stern, then the other stern, then the bow and the other bow. Each wave bobs and slews the boat a little in the direction that it is going. It is important that you understand that these are little movements. They are so small that a can of Pringles potato chips is still standing up on the counter after two hours. I know it hard to believe, but the can is not empty. We routinely leave glasses half full sitting on the saloon table. You could never do this in a monohull, except at anchor.

When traveling one of the more useful items to have with you is set of earplugs. You can find serenity in the noisiest of places. Last night when going to sleep I was able to shut out the noise of the water against the hull, wind in the rigging and the creaking of the furniture, but not the sound of the voice in my head. I ask K2 about this and she immediately responded that I wasn't putting them in far enough.