Category Archives: 5. Panama to Tahiti

5. Panama to Tahiti

Arrived in Galapagos

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Tuesday
We made it — just before dark. Anchored in Baquerizo Moreno and made a grand dinner. We deal with the customs/immigrations authorities in the morning.

Five and a half days is excellent time; we were lucky with the wind — we motored just one night, and we had no squalls. Relative to other boats we made better time than the boats that left Panama before us. But two boats that left the same day we did arrived about six hours before us. We think they motored a lot, but we don’t really know… I like that they, more than we, are looked at as the fast boats, setting an expectation that they will arrive first on future legs.

We had our first Galapagos wildlife(?) experience already, as we were relaxing in the cockpit waiting for dinner to cook. Tim heard a sound behind him, and turned around to find himself face to face with a sea lion! Apparently the sea lion had climbed up our transom steps and boarded without asking permission.

It’s hard to believe we are in the Galapagos. The actual experience so far does not match the romantic notions. We’re in a relatively busy harbor with too many lights and too much noisy nighttime activity. But to think we are in the Pacific Ocean, that we have crossed the equator, and we are now in the fabled islands of incredible animals and Darwin’s inspiration — wow!

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.