Monthly Archives: February 2015

5. Panama to Tahiti

Approaching Galapagos

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Monday
Another beautiful day. Winds forward of abeam keeping us cool. Many dolphins in the distance, including one jumping clear of the water, but they apparently have no interest in us. One ship on the horizon. Light winds during the day had me convinced that we could not make our destination by tomorrow night. But after dark the wind has picked up, and we’re doing 9 knots to windward in reasonable comfort. If this wind would hold (which seems unlikely based on experience to date) we could still make it. Not that we’re in a hurry to arrive, but we don’t look forward to “killing time” for an entire night waiting for daylight so we can enter the harbor.

Last night we had a pink-footed booby (a bird) roosting on our sprit stay all night, and he’s back again tonight. Tim keeps inviting him into the pilot house and offering him things to eat, but he seems content just to perch and get a free ride. In addition I can see in the moonlight that there are three more birds that are “leading the way” — flying just ahead of our jib. Sometimes they break away and fly off, but before long they are back. It’s eerie seeing them fly by in the moonlight.

Our latitude is 0 degrees, 17 minutes north. That is, we’re just 17 nautical miles north of the equator. We’ll cross it during the night after my watch, which is exciting but a little disappointing because I’d like to be awake at the time. I just think it would be cool to watch the navigation system show 0.00 latitude and switch from north to south…

5. Panama to Tahiti

Sailing Southwest

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Saturday:
Light winds, no clouds, intense sun. We are at 3 degrees north latitude, so less than 200 miles from the equator. A major daytime activity aboard is finding comfortable places to sit in the shade. The sun is wicked hot by 8am. It is a welcome relief when it sets, and I can enjoy the sliver of setting moon, brilliant Jupiter, uncountable stars, and the occasional satellite or shooting star.

Last night we sailed very close to the Columbian island of Malpelo — a huge steep rock in the middle of nowhere. Some authority hailed us on the radio, asking who we were and where we are headed; I’m sure we violated Columbian territorial waters. “Mal pelo” translates to “bad hair.” I wondered about the name. But during the day we saw many sea birds that must nest on the island (there being no other place for many, many miles). I imagine that the island is covered with birds/nests, and that gets me wondering if the name comes from someone having a bad experience with birds flying overhead…

In the afternoon we saw several bits of trash in the water, all within 20 minutes or so. Not sure why we saw this concentration. My hope (I guess) is that someone dumped a pile of trash in one spot, rather than this being representative of the state of the whole ocean!

And then we saw a pod of whales. They were small (pilot whales?), but one put on quite a show by repeatedly jumping nearly clear of the water! There were maybe five in the pod. Naturally by the time I got my camera the jumper had ended his show, but still I got some pictures of them surfacing and blowing.

Here’s a reminder that you can see where we are in almost real time, and see the track we are following, on the Blue Planet Odyssey web site. (Look for “track the boats” or something akin to that.) Also, if you are interested in the winds and currents that we are experiencing, check out http://www.earth.nullschool.net. This site provides a wonderful visual representation of both wind and current anywhere on the planet. I wish we could access it when we’re at sea! For the past 2+ days we have had a 1 knot current in our favor, which is a treat, and which stems in part from us looking at the web site and planning our course accordingly.

5. Panama to Tahiti

Heading South…

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Thursday:

Last the Maggie crew and we took a taxi across Panama City in search of a Whole-Foods-like store someone had described to Tim.  No luck.  But we saw a “gourmet delicatessen” along the way, and a nice-looking restaurant next to it.  So that’s where we went, and we had a delightful dinner, and then bought cold cuts, cheese, chocolate and other goodies.  We don’t have much in the fruits and veggies department; oh well.

Got underway this morning.  Sunny, hot and no wind.  Motored for about three hours until a little breeze came up directly behind us.  Put up the big spinnaker and had a delightful day of sailing.  Mid-afternoon the wind picked up and we started zipping along at nine knots.  Almost immediately we got a bite on the fishing lure we were trailing.  It ran all the line out of our reel before we got to it.  Luckily the fish pulled free of the hook rather than taking our gear.

Within minutes we had another strike. This time we reeled it in and gaffed it, but it got free before we could get it safely aboard and sedate it with some rum. It was a big one — two feet long, at least, and probably ten pounds.

Not to worry… within minutes we had another strike, and this time we successfully landed a small tuna. Maybe twenty inches long and five pounds. Tim and I sampled the sashimi as we filleted it. Very good! We made nori rolls with sticky rice, plus empanadas and salsa on the side. Lots of tuna left over for another meal.

It was a beautiful evening, blowing a comfortable (for going downwind) twenty knots, and we continued to fly the spinnaker into the night. Bad idea… Though the night was beautiful, the wind gradually increased, and with it the waves began to build, and by the middle of my watch (Bill and I switched watches, so I have 7 to 11 now) things were getting hairy. Top wind speed reached 28 knots. Top boat speed hit 17 knots, surfing on the waves. We were hitting 15 knots regularly as we surfed. We were overpowered, but I didn’t want to wake the others (if they were able to sleep in the mayhem), so I tried to wait it out. But the waves were pushing the boat off course faster than the autopilot could adjust, and the spinnaker would occasionally collapse as we headed up too far, and then collapse the other way as we would bear off too far. We were risking breaking something (probably the spinnaker), so finally I called, “All hands,” and we got it down. Now we are ambling along under jib alone, at about 6 knots. MUCH more peaceful! I think I’ll be able to sleep in my berth in the bow.

Wonderful day. Glorious night. I know I’m repeating myself, but I’m SO happy to be moving again.

Friday:

A day of just the sun and the ocean and a few pelagic birds and us. Vast emptiness. Profound aloneness.