 |
| Adios Galapagos |
We motored away from Galapagos just after 12pm on Tuesday 17th
April in glassy conditions, with the promise of breeze. All the sea creatures came out to say
goodbye, including hundreds of sea turtles, just biding their time peacefully
on the water’s surface. Slowly we motored
into the sunset, heading southwest towards the trades. It was the start of the lunar cycle and with
no moon, the night sky and the glassy ocean became one star covered mass, like
we were floating through space (to the sound of a diesel engine).
The wind did not come in on Day 2, so we continued to motor. With a slight cross swell we all felt a
little uncomfortable and laid low until our bodies adjusted to passage life. Day 3 was 19
th April, Hayley’s 12
th
birthday. We were hoping she would get
the trade winds for her birthday, but alas...
We made the best of it with pancakes for breakfast, lots of presents to
open and no school for the day. We
played games and watched Moana. All
meals were on Hayley’s request, so we had corn chips and guacamole for lunch
and rissoles with chippies for dinner, with caramel flan instead
of a birthday cake. The trades didn’t
completely disappoint and delivered their 10 knot gift just before 9pm. Engines off, peace at last!
 |
| Birthday sunrise |
 |
| Birthday loot |
 |
| Birthday cake |
Friday morning (Day 5) we got the spinnaker flying as early
as we could and took it down around sunset at 6:30pm. We were still heading south (and west) to get
to the stronger trades and we noticed that the sea temperature was higher again
(after Galapagos) and the nights had warmed up accordingly. The boat was also dryer, provided there were
no rain squalls, with no condensation or dew forming on the decks overnight. And so it went for the next five days. The wind strengthened each day from 10 to 12
knots, to 14 to 17 knots, then 17 to 20 knots, so we sailed at 8-9 knots boat
speed – woo hoo! We never quite got a
200 mile day, but we got close. We
settled into our new watch pattern of 2-4-4-2 (8pm-10pm; 10pm -2am; 2am-6am;
6am-8am). The girls worked hard on their
school work, except on Sundays which was a day of rest and recreation, as much
as you can on a boat in the middle of the ocean. We celebrated the 500 NM mark with a bag of
chippies. We had no luck fishing (too fast?), but we did have a boobie (red
footed we think) flying around the boat for a few hours, swooping and diving
for fish. Beautiful to watch.
 |
| Sunset - Day 7 |
On Day 8 (Tuesday 24
th) we saw our first boats
for days: another sail boat with kids, Moya, on AIS only; and a fishing boat that
was not on AIS until it magically appeared when it was about 0.3 NM away, a
little too close for comfort. The boat
looked so uncomfortable, rolling around in the swell. We were very glad to be on RAFTKIN.
 |
| One week out we spot a fishing boat |
We commemorated ANZAC Day on board and spent the day doing
the ANZAC work units prepared by SDEPS so that we could learn more about it. We baked ANZAC cookies for morning tea and
sent the recipe on to our friends crossing the Pacific with us via satellite
email. Tonight, we dropped the spinnaker
and set up wing on wing for the first time this trip, which gave us a better
angle to the west.
 |
| Anzac cookies on ANZAC Day |
 |
| Day 10 - Quiz Day |
Day 10 (Thursday) was Kids Challenge day. Hayley and Megan had extra motivation today
to get their school work completed, as at 2pm the Big Kids (from Dol Selene)
were sending out quiz questions via email.
They were so excited when the email came in and got stuck into answering
the questions straight away, wanting to get the answers submitted as quickly
and correctly as possible to be in the running for an icecream. Perhaps I need to motivate boat school with
icecream also? We crossed the halfway
mark tonight and started celebrations with roast chicken dinner with chips and
coleslaw. We had tinned peaches and
custard for dessert – such a treat!
 |
| Dave and Hayley keep busy with chess |
 |
| Megan creates a world for beanie boos on the window sill |
 |
| Halfway by distance celebration dinner |
The next four days we had good breeze and made excellent
progress, covering another 500 miles. We
were very excited to make radio contact with La Cigale and the kids talked over
the radio a few times whilst within range.
We tried to do an exercise routine every other day for about ½ an
hour. It was so funny when the girls
come out looking like ONJ, ‘let’s get physical’. Its all about the outfit. Hayley surprised us by getting her cello out
and doing some practice on the ‘back deck’ (cockpit). So lovely to hear her playing, even when she
is a bit rusty. We had freshly caught
mahi mahi for dinner on Saturday night, unfortunately our only fish on the
crossing. As we were in contact with La
Cigale, we decided to have a cross boat movie night, both boats watching Groundhog
Day. Much to our amusement, Francis
likened the movie to sailing across the Pacific!
 |
| Day 11 - Lets get physical |
 |
| Cello practice at sea |
 |
| Day 12 - finally a fish! |
Monday 30
th April things seemed to slow for a day
as the breeze dropped to 12-15 knots, directly from behind. Not fun in a catamaran. On Tuesday (Day 15) we decided to head north
towards what we hoped to be more wind.
At least we could use the spinnaker and get more speed and we continued
on this path on Wednesday and Thursday under similar conditions. The conditions were so good, Hayley and Megan
worked hard at school to try and get ahead a few days (including Saturdays!) so
that when we reached land they could take a few days off. They were particularly focussed on Tuesday, because
there was a Kids Challenge in the afternoon, thanks to Dol Selene.
The days stretched on long ahead of us, then
suddenly the sky was changing and it was time to sort out dinner, pull the
spinnaker down, set the sails to wing on wing and continue west into the
night. Sailing at night as the moon
started to wane from full was just gorgeous.
On the clear nights it rose out of the sea a glowing fireball of orange,
then transformed into its familiar silvery hue.
 |
| Day 13 - Good day sunshine |
 |
| Day 13 - Sunday beading fun |
 |
| Day 14 - odd jobs like fishing line repairs |
Day 18 - May the fourth be with you. Hayley and Megan had extra incentive to work
hard at school today. As soon as they
were finished, they could start on their Star Wars marathon. We had our first rain for two weeks, just two
small sprinkles – enough to get the decks wet and turn the black dust picked up
in Galapagos into mud. Unfortunately,
the rain brought only minimal increase in pressure, but the wind went to the
north 20 degrees!
 |
| Day 18 - 500 NM to go! |
Things slowed down considerably on Saturday 5
th
May with the wind around 8-12 knots, up and down all day. The direction was such that there was not
much benefit in putting the big sail up because it would send us in the wrong
direction not much faster than sailing wing on wing in the right direction. Its so peaceful out here and we are more
relaxed than on the Atlantic crossing, so it is a bit easier to just go with
what the wind gives us. By late this
afternoon the wind dropped below 8 knots and we were barely doing 4 knots, so
we reluctantly switched engines on.
Having another boat on our tail might have been a motivation also. “It’s not a race until you get started”,
thank you Brian. We chatted to the folks
on Sitka, whom we had met briefly in Bonaire – nice to make human contact
again. The wind filled in again around
10pm, so the engines were off before midnight.
Slow, but peaceful.
The sun rose and greeted a cheeky newly 10 year old on Sunday
6th May (Day 20). Happy
birthday to Megan (and to cousin Patrick!).
There were presents to unwrap, pink pancakes for breakfast and a solid
morning session of playing with new (and old) toys for Hayley and Megan. We love Sundays, especially birthday
Sundays. We enjoyed delicious chocolate
cake for afternoon tea, followed by a dance-off to the Ramones and Radio
Birdman, then a little Avrill. Megan’s
choice for dinner was bacon and roast potatoes, with a side of salad. We were lucky to have one last lettuce.
 |
| Day 20 - cheeky birthday girl |
 |
| Opening the birthday loot |
 |
| Pink pancakes for birthday breakfast |
 |
| A girl's got to have chocolate cake |
Land was in sight as the sky lightened on Monday 7
th
May. Fatu Hiva rose green and grey up
out of the ocean, and slowly drew nearer and came into focus. With the best breeze we’d had in days we sailed
passed the northern most point of Fatu Hiva and after just over 20 days at sea,
dropped anchor in the safe harbour of Hanavave.
Four happy x 2 ocean crossers.
 |
| Day 21 - Fatu Hiva approaches |
 |
| Sails down after just under 21 days at sea |
 |
| Heading into anchor in Bay of Virgins, Fatu HIva |
Comments
Post a Comment