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Total Run This Leg:
2,364.6
Nautical Miles
Total Average Speed: 5.19 Knots
Hours / Days This Leg: 455.5 Hours, 18.98 Days
Distance To Go This Leg: 583.2 Nautical Miles
Estimated Time Of Arrival: 7:00 a.m., Saturday, October 16, Balboa Sea
Buoy, Panama
Present Course: 117 Degrees Southeasterly
Winds: West-Southwest at 10 Knots
Seas: 1 Foot
Swells: 8 Feet from the East-Northeast
Barometric Pressure: 1011 Millibars
Air Temperature: 79 Degrees
Sea Temperature: 79 Degrees
Visibility: 10 Miles
Skies: Partly Cloudy
Sea Floor: Ocean depths within this general area along USS New Jersey's
trackline reflect great variance. At her position, the floor is 3,182 Fathoms deep,
or 19,092 Feet. Position:
USS New
Jersey is now 50 Miles West-Southwest of Punta Filibusteros, Costa Rica. The coast
here between Bahia Tamarindo and Punta Guiones, 28 Miles farther South-Southeast, is
fringed by foul ground extending up to 2 Miles offshore in places. A group of
red-roofed houses on Punta Filibusteros, 14 miles south of Punta San Francisco, is a
useful landmark.
Captain Ogaard's experience navigating these waters is
valuable. Numerous shallow pinnacles dot the navigational chart for this area, and the
waters are apparently popular fishing grounds. His alertness to their exact
whereabouts, and that of the others on watch throughout the day here, is keen.
Small fishing craft have been more numerous here than
elsewhere from Mexico through this part of Central America, their baited longlines hung
from intermediate floats, and mother vessels scattered nearby with their night lights
visible in the distance.
Captain Ogaard reports that he witnessed the same
popularity during his earlier 1999 passage here with the USS Oriskany aircraft carrier tow
headed to the Straits of Magellan.
The "Guardian Bank" is located in these waters
off Costa Rica some 130 Miles West of Cabo Blanco Soundings over this narrow bank, which
extends in a North-Northwest to South-Southeast direction, have been reported to be 9 to
31 Meters, or 29 to 101 Feet. In 1981, depths of less than 11 Meters, 36 Feet, were
reported to exist East of the charted bank.
Some of these pinnacles have charting date references of
1932, 1950 and 1927.
Submitted by Bob Wernet onboard the Sea Victory.
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