The Eastern Pacific - Pacific Crossing Notes: A Sailor's Guide to the Coconut Milk Run - page 212

By day six, we could begin to hazard a guess as to our arrival date: three more days. Slow,
but still on target. By that point, we had thoroughly given ourselves over to the “Que sera,
sera” approach to ocean sailing. Conditions were ideal for cetacean-spotting, and we
glimpsed a lone orca followed by two pods of striped dolphins. They seemed a little dis-
appointed in our pedestrian speed, however, and raced off to find less geriatric playmates.
Then it was time to make a dent in Nicky's home schooling and stitch together a flag of
Ecuador. The moon was nearly full now, stealing the celestial stage from the stars but
bringing us a welcome visitor every night. I was gradually wading through a 700 page
book on the building of the Panama Canal, a process that mirrored our journey: though the
pages seemed to turn slowly, my bookmark made steady progress toward the end. As if on
cue, birds began to appear around us. Land couldn't be too far now.